Proaigialosaurus
Name:
Proaigialosaurus
(Before Aigialosaurus).
Phonetic: Pro-ay-ge-al-o-sore-us.
Named By: Kuhn - 1958.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Diapsida,
Lepidosauria.
Species: P. huenei (type).
Diet: Piscivore/carnivore.
Size: Probably no more than a meter long.
Known locations: Germany - Solnhofen Limestone.
Time period: Late Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Skull fragments.
At various times Proaigialosaurus has been considered to be a pleurosaur, a sphenodont to even a primitive member of the Aigialosauridae, hence the name Proaigialosaurus which means ‘before Aigialosaurus’, a reference to the type genus of this group. However the Aigialosauridae contains some of the primitive mosasaurs, and most of the genera from here are known from early in the Late Cretaceous, whereas the deposit that the Proaigialosaurus holotype specimens were discovered is Late Jurassic, many tens of millions of years older. To confound matters further, not only was Proaigialosaurus named from very partial skull remains, these are at the time of writing lost, making a more in depth study of Proaigialosaurus all the more difficult.
Further reading
- A review of the taxonomy and systematics of aigialosaurs.
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 84 (3): 221 - 22. -
A. R. Dutchak - 2005.
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