Vancleavea
Name:
Vancleavea
(named after Phillip Van Cleave).
Phonetic: Van-clee-ve-ah.
Named By: Robert Long & Phillip A Murry
- 1995.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Archosauriformes.
Species: V. campi (type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: About 1.2 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Arizona - Chinle
Formation, New Mexico - Chinle Formation, Redonda Formation,
Santa Rosa Formation, Texas - Tecovas Formation, Utah -
Chinle Formation.
Time period: Late Triassic.
Fossil representation: Multiple individuals.
Vancleavea
is a quite unusual genus of reptile as it is quite unlike any other
known reptile. Vancleavea had a long body, thick
bones, short
limbs and a particularly dense and robust skull. Thick bones such as
these are commonly seen in reptiles that spend lots of time swimming
under the surface of the water as the additional weight from the
thicker bones helps overcome problems with buoyancy. The caudal
(tail) vertebrae of Vancleavea also have
enlarged neural spines
which greatly increase the height of the tail meaning even more push
against the water, further increasing the plausibility of a swimming
lifestyle. The nostrils also faced up, not forwards, indicating
that Vancleavea could still breathe normally in
water just by sticking
the top of its head out of the water. However Vancleavea
still likely
returned to land to rest and possibly lay eggs.
Vancleavea
had large and robust teeth that would have been well suited to tougher
prey animals such as arthropods, molluscs or even heavily scaled
fish. Vancleavea also had osteoderms (bony
plates), which may
have been there to help protect Vancleavea from
other predators that
would have been active in the same locations. The hips of Vancleavea
are noted as being similar to those of drepanosaurs,
though if this
is a common familial link or a case of convergent evolution is still
unclear at the time of writing.
Further reading
- Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the
southwestern United States. - New Mexico Museum of Natural History
and Science Bulletin 4:1-254. - Robert Long & Phillip A
Murry - 1995.
- New information on the Upper Triassic archosauriform Vancleavea
campi based on new material from the Chinle Formation of
Arizona. -
Palaeontologia Electronica 11 (3): 20p. - W. G.
Parker & B. Barton - 2008.
- The osteology and relationships of Vancleavea campi
(Reptilia:
Archosauriformes). - Chinleana: Discussion of Late Triassic
paleontology and other assorted topics. Retrieved 2009-11-29. -
Bill Parker - 2009.
- The osteology and relationships of Vancleavea campi
(Reptilia:
Archosauriformes). - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
157 (4): 814–864. - S. J. Nesbitt, M. R.
Stocker, B. J. Small & A. Downs - 2009.
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