Asiamericana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iAsiamericana
Fossil range: Cretaceous
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class:  ?Sauropsida
Superorder:  ?Dinosauria
Order:  ?Saurischia
Suborder:  ?Theropoda
Family:  ?Spinosauridae
Genus: Asiamericana

Asiamericana (AY-zha-MER-i-KAHN-a - (Greek: Asia meaning "Asia" and Latin American meaning "America") was named to recognise the occurrence of similar fossil teeth in Central Asia and North America. These regions once formed a connected land mass, during the Cretaceous period and were referred to as Asiamerica. Asiamericana has been tentatively classified with the Spinosauridae

The teeth were discovered by L. A. Nessov in 1995. The findings were based on three teeth found in the central Kyzylkum desert, Uzbekistan, comparable to other teeth found in Kazakhstan and North America, which have been illustrated but not formally described.

[edit] Classification issues

Nessov himself has cautioned that these unusual teeth may belong to saurodont fish rather than to dinosaurs.

[edit] References