Termatosaurus
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| Termatosaurus Fossil range: Late Triassic |
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Termatosaurus ("end lizard", because it came from the end of the Upper Triassic) is a genus of phytosaur, an extinct crocodile-like aquatic animal, although twice it has been confused with dinosaurs (once accidentally). Its remains come from the Upper Triassic of Europe. Two species are known of this animal: the type species, Termatosaurus albertii, named by Meyer and T. Plieninger in 1844; and T. crocodilinus, by Quenstedt (1858). It is very obscure and apparently considered to be dubious.
It had been at least once considered to be a dinosaur, which got it onto Internet dinosaur genera lists. At some point, a compiler accidentally added species from the adjoining Tetragonosaurus, a genus now known to be based on juvenile duckbill remains. These erroneous species were T. praeceps and T. cranibrevis (=Lambeosaurus lambei), and T. erectofrons (=Corythosaurus casuarius).
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Right:
Mistaken: (Both of these pages have accidental transpositions of species of Tetragonosaurus onto this genus)
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