| Thalattosauridae Temporal range: Late Triassic |
|
|---|---|
| Thalattosaurus and Nectosaurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Subclass: | ?Diapsida |
| Order: | Thalattosauria |
| Family: | Thalattosauridae Merriam 1904 |
| Genera | |
Thalattosauridae (From Ancient Greek, meaning "Ocean lizards") is a family of extinct marine diapsid reptiles which lived along the Pacific coast of Late Triassic North America. Specimens of two genera, Thalattosaurus and Nectosaurus, have been found in California.
In life, the typical thalattosaur would have resembled a large lizard up to 7 feet in length, half of which being the elongated, flattened tail. Despite resembling lizards, the thalattosaurs' relationships with other diapsids is obscure, with most experts pigeonholing them somewhere between ichthyosaurs and archosaurs. Their closest relative is Askeptosaurus, which was also a marine diapsid from the Triassic.
There are several recognized genera of thalattosaurs. The largerThalattosaurus (which contains two species, T. alexandrae and T. shastensis) fed on shellfish, and the smaller Nectosaurus halinus ate fish. In 1993, Nicholls and Brinkman described Paralonectes merriami and Agkistrognathus campbelli from fossils found at Wapiti Lake, British Columbia, extending the known range of the family to what is now Canada.
Abstract of the paper describing Paralonectes and Agkistrognathus