In Depth
Steneosaurus is a genus of teleosaurid crocodile that lived during the late Jurassic of Europe. As a genus Steneosaurus once had a great many species attributed to the genus, but over the years this was a result of what is known as the wastebasket taxon effect This is where a genus is based upon a sketchy set of fossil remains which then have other sets of fossils assigned to the genus based upon superficial similarity. Over the years several species have been moved out of Steneosaurus, culminating in a 2020 review of the genus (Johnson et al). At the time of writing the only recognised species of Steneosaurus is S. rostromajor, and that is based upon partial snout remains. Today the genus is regarded as dubious.
Further Reading
- The Late Jurassic crocodiles of the Langenberg near Oker, Lower Saxony (Germany), and description of related materials (with remarks on the history of quarrying the “Langenberg Limestone” and “Obernkirchen Sandstone”), N. Knotschke - 2006. - High diversity of thalattosuchian crocodylians and the niche partition in the Solnhofen Sea, M. B. Andrade & M. T. Young - 2008. – New specimen and revision of the late Jurassic teleosaurid ‘Steneosaurus’ megarhinus. – PeerJ Preprints. 3: e1351v1. – D. Foffa, M. T. Youong, S. L. Brusatte & L. Steel – – 2015. – Emptying the wastebasket: a historical and taxonomic revision of the Jurassic crocodylomorph Steneosaurus. – Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 189 (2): 428–448. – Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young & Stephen L. Brusatte – 2020.
