''Eurysaurus'' (meaning "wide lizard") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of

plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared ...

, originally classed as a

nothosaur Nothosaurs (order Nothosauroidea) were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles that may have lived like seals of today, catching food in water but coming ashore on rocks and beaches. They averaged about in length, with a long body and tail.F. v. ...

, from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...

of Echenoz-la-Meline,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, named in 1878. The type material, consisting of a

cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

, teeth and five

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

, is now lost.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. 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 ''Germanosaurus'', meaning "German lizard", is an extinct aquatic genus of nothosaurid sauropterygian known from the early Middle Triassic (early Anisian stage) Lower Muschelkalk of what was known as Upper Silesia, now a part of Poland. The typ ...

''.O. Rieppel. 1997. Revision of the sauropterygian reptile genus ''

Cymatosaurus ''Cymatosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pistosauroid or nothosauriform sauropterygian. It is known to have been alive from the Early Triassic to the Middle Triassic period (latest Olenekian to Anisian stages) of Germany and they seem to originate ...

'' v. Fritsch, 1894, and the relationships of ''Germanosaurus'' Nopcsa, 1928, from the Middle Triassic of Europe. ''Fieldiana: Geology, new series''

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 Noè (2001) has considered ''Eurysaurus'' a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

'', probably congeneric with the

pliosaur Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive tooth ...

Simolestes ''Simolestes'' (meaning "hearkening thief") is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, BMNH R. 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to ''Simolestes vorax'', dating back to ...

''.Noè, LF 2001. A taxonomic and functional study of the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia, Sauropterygia). ''Ph.D. thesis, University of Derby, Derby, UK.'' 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

. In 2001, Noè reclassified ''Eurysaurus'' as a

, possibly belonging to the

Pliosauroidea Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive tooth ...

References

Early Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Fossils of France Fossil taxa described in 1878 Sinemurian genus first appearances Pliensbachian genus extinctions {{plesiosaur-stub

History

Classification

See also

References