Nothosaurs

Nothosaurs
Live reconstruction of Ceresiosaurus calcagnii . This nothosaur is known from Monte San Giorgio and reached between 2 and 3 meters in length.
Temporal occurrence
Middle Triassic to Upper Triassic ( Anisium to Carnian )
247.2 to 228 million years
Locations
Europe Asia
Systematics
Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda) Amniotes (Amniota) Sauropsida Diapsida Sauropterygia Nothosaurs
Scientific name
Nothosauria
Baur , 1889

Nothosaurs (Nothosauria) or hybrid lizards are a group of extinct diapsid reptiles (Diapsida) from the group of Sauropterygia ("fin lizards").

They occurred during the Middle and Upper Triassic , around what is now the Mediterranean Sea and southern Germany in a branch of the western Tethys and in southern China. They were reptiles that lived in rivers and areas near the coast and could also move on land. Their front legs had adapted to the aquatic way of life and became more streamlined, while the rear legs still looked like the legs of a land creature. The skull was flat and elongated triangular when viewed from above; it is somewhat reminiscent of the skull of a crocodile . The pointed and slightly curved teeth in the front area of ​​the snout were quite large and the teeth of the upper and lower jaw interlocked to form what is known as a trap bite . The nothosaurs used it to catch fish.

The nothosaurs include a variety of species that can be classified into three size classes.

Nothosaur skeleton in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin

• The largest nothosaur species Nothosaurus giganteus was approx. 3.8 m long, the skull was 48.5 cm long. N. giganteus is more powerfully built than other nothosaurs.
• The middle size class is occupied by the type species Nothosaurus mirabilis . These animals were 2 to 3 m long and were the only Nothosaurs to have long spinous processes on the vertebrae. The holotype (based on which the species was scientifically described for the first time) as well as numerous skulls and other skeletal parts are exhibited in the Urwelt Museum Oberfranken in Bayreuth.
• The group of small nothosaurs includes all other species. They were no taller than 1 to 1.5 m.

Families and genera

Nothosaurus , graphic reconstruction

• Simosauridae
• Germanosauridae
• Nothosauridae
  • Anomosaurus
  • Ceresiosaurus
  • Chinchenia
  • Kwangsisaurus
  • Lariosaurus
  • Metanothosaurus
  • Nothosaurus
  • Proneusticosaurus
  • Sanchiaosaurus
• Pistosauridae

literature

• Robert L. Carroll : Paleontology and Evolution of the Vertebrates. Thieme, Stuttgart et al. 1993, ISBN 3-13774-401-6 .

Web links

Commons : Nothosauria  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Anomosaurus
2. ^ The Paleobiology Database: Ceresiosaurus
3. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Chinchenia
4. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Kwangisaurus
5. ^ The Paleobiology Database: Lariosaurus
6. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Metanothosaurus
7. ^ The Paleobiology Database: Nothosaurus
8. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Proneusticosaurus
9. ↑ The Paleobiology Database: Sanchiaosaurus