Eurysaurus

Eurysaurus (meaning "wide lizard") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur, originally classed as a nothosaur, from the Early Jurassic of Echenoz-la-Meline, France, named in 1878. The type material, consisting of a cranium, teeth and five vertebrae, is now lost.[1] The type species is E. raincourti, and a second species, E. schafferi, was named in 1924 but it has since been absorbed into the unrelated genus Germanosaurus.[2]

Eurysaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 195–185 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Subclass:	†Enaliosauria
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
(unranked):	†Pliosauroidea?
Genus:	†Eurysaurus Gaudry, 1878
Binomial name
†Eurysaurus raincourti Gaudry, 1878

History

The holotype, first described in 1878 by Albert Gaudry, has since been lost. A new study based essentially on illustrations of the type material by Noah (2001) has considered Eurysaurus a nomen dubium, probably congeneric with the pliosaur Simolestes.[3] However, due to the stratigraphic difference of the two forms, it is possible that Eurysaurus was a separate genus in its own right.

Classification

Gaudry in 1878 originally classified Eurysaurus as a nothosaur.[1] In 2001, Noah reclassified Eurysaurus as a plesiosaur, possibly belonging to the Pliosauroidea.[3]

See also

• Timeline of plesiosaur research

• List of plesiosaurs

References

1. Gaudry, a. 1878. Sur un grand reptile fossil (the Eurysaurus raincourti). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l ' Académie des Sciences, Paris, 86: 1031–1033.
2. O. Rieppel. 1997. Revision of the sauropterygian reptile genus Cymatosaurus v. Fritsch, 1894, and the relationships of Germanosaurus Nopcsa, 1928, from the Middle Triassic of Europe. Fieldiana: Geology, new series
3. Noah, LF 2001. A taxonomic and functional study of the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia, Sauropterygia). Ph.D. thesis, University of Derby, Derby, UK.