Name:
Pontosaurus.
Phonetic: Pon-toe-sore-us.
Named By: Gorjanovic-Kramberger - 1892.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Anguimorpha, Pythonomorpha.
Species: P. lesinensis
(type), P. kornhuberi.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: 1 meter long.
Known locations: Croatia and Lebanon.
Time period: Cenomanian/Turonian? of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: At least 2 individuals.
Pontosaurus
was a semi aquatic lizard with an extremely elongated body that
features a laterally compressed tail around twice the length of the
body. Pontosaurus is so snake-like that it is
considered to represent
the form of reptiles that were ancestral to snakes, though was
probably not the ancestor due to its late appearance in the fossil
record. Additionally semi aquatic lizards similar to Pontosaurus
are
thought to have given rise to the mosasaurs of the late Cretaceous.
Pontosaurus
was originally
named as Hydrosaurus, but this had already been
used to name a genus
of agamid lizard.
Further reading
- A new species of Pontosaurus (Squamata, Pythonomorpha) from the Upper
Cretaceous of Lebanon and a phylogenetic analysis of Pythonomorpha. -
Memorie della Societa Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico
di Storia Naturale di Milano 34:1-42. - M. W. Caldwell - 2006.