Actiosaurus
| Actiosaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Actiosaurus gaudryi humerus (anterior view), Sauvage (1883). | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | †Choristodera |
| Genus: | Actiosaurus |
| Species: | A. gaudryi |
| Binomial name | |
| Actiosaurus gaudryi Sauvage, 1883 | |
Actiosaurus (meaning "coast lizard") is an extinct genus of reptile first described by Henri Sauvage in 1883.[1] The type species is A. gaudryi (commonly misspelled A. gaudrii after Boulenger[2]). Little is known of it, and it is considered a nomen dubium. Actiosaurus was originally described as a dinosaur in 1883 and was reinterpreted as an ichthyosaur in 1908. Actiosaurus may instead represent the remains of a choristodere.[3] Fischer et al. (in press) considered A. gaudryi to be a species inquirenda, and noted the similarity of its bones to the limb bones of choristoderes.[4]
References
- ↑ Sauvage, H. (1883). "Recherches sur les reptiles trouves dans l'etage Rhetien des environs d'Autun". Annales des Sciences Geologiques 14 (6, Article 3) : 1–44.
- ↑ Boulenger, G. A. (1883). Page 6 in "Reptilia and Batrachia". Rye, E. C. (ed.). The Zoological Record for 1883. Record of Zoological Literature 20.
- ↑ Mortimer, M. (13 June 2010). "Actiosaurus is a choristodere not an ichthyosaur". The Theropod Database Blog. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ↑ Valentin Fischer, Henri Cappetta, Peggy Vincent, Géraldine Garcia, Stijn Goolaerts, Jeremy E. Martin, Daniel Roggero and Xavier Valentin (2014). "Ichthyosaurs from the French Rhaetian indicate a severe turnover across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary". Naturwissenschaften. in press. doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1242-7.