Arctosaurus

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Arctosaurus
Fossil range: Late Triassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Subclass: Diapsida
Infraclass: Archosauromorpha
(unranked) Archosauriformes
Genus: Arctosaurus
Binomial name
Arctosaurus osborni
Adams, 1875

Arctosaurus (meaning "arctic lizard") is a genus of extinct reptile originally classified as a small reptile of unknown affinities, but was often classified as a sauropodomorph dinosaur in the years to follow. Although it has also been classified as a theropod, recent review finds that the similarities it shares with theropods are spread throughout several groups of Late Triassic reptiles, and so it cannot be assigned any more specifically than to Archosauriformes.[1] Other authors have suggested trilophosaurian affinities.[2][3] It is based on a neck vertebra that was found on Cameron Island, Nunavut, Canada, in Late Triassic-age rocks.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Irmis, Randall B.; and Parker, William G. (2007). "A critical re-evaluation of the Late Triassic dinosaur taxa of North America". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5 (2): 209–243. doi:10.1017/S1477201907002040. 
  2. ^ Glut, D.F. (1997). "Excluded Genera", Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company, 1005-1010. ISBN 0-89950-917-7. 
  3. ^ Russell, Dale A. (1989). An Odyssey in Time: Dinosaurs of North America. Minocqua, Wisconsin: NorthWord Press, Inc., 26. ISBN 1-55971-038-1. 

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