''Sapheosaurus'' was an extinct genus of Late Jurassic

sphenodont Rhynchocephalia (; ) is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living species, the tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') of New Zealand. Despite its current lack of diversity, during the Mesozoic rhynchocephalians were a diverse gro ...

. Its skull was longer and narrower than that of ''

Homoeosaurus ''Homoeosaurus'' is an extinct genus of sphenodont reptile. It was found in limestone in Bavaria, Germany, as well as in France and the United Kingdom. It was related to the modern tuatara, though it was a considerably more gracile. There were se ...

''. It was classified as a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

sapheosaur Sapheosaurs are an extinct group of rhynchocephalian reptiles from the Late Jurassic period. "Sapheosaurs" is an informal name for a group of rhynchocephalians closely related to the genus '' Sapheosaurus''. It was first recognized as a group c ...

Michael Benton Michael James Benton One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 8 April 1956) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences ...

in 1985. It reached a length of 70 cm from snout to tail. ''Sapheosaurus'' belongs to the clade Sapheosauridae, that also includes other taxa like ''

Kallimodon ''Kallimodon'' is a genus of sphenodont from the Late Jurassic of Bavaria, southern Germany. Systematics ''Kallimodon'' was originally described as a species of ''Homoeosaurus'' by Karl von Zittel in 1887. However, in 1963 it was renamed ''Kall ...

''. It is believed to be one of two aquatic sphenodont lineages, with

Pleurosauridae Pleurosauridae is an extinct family of sphenodontian reptiles, known from the Jurassic of Europe. Members of the family had long-snake like bodies with reduced limbs that were adapted for aquatic life in marine environments. It contains two gene ...

being the other.Marc E. H. Jones, Skull shape and feeding strategy in Sphenodon and other Rhynchocephalia (Diapsida: Lepidosauria), Article in Journal of Morphology 269(8):945-66 · August 2008 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10634 · Source: PubMed Sapheosaurus laticeps Teylers

Species

''Sapheosaurus laticeps'' (also known as '' Piocormus'') differed from ''Sapheosaurus thiollierei'' by its smaller size and more

vertebra 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 ...

e. ''S. thiollierei'' had 22 back and neck vertebrae, while ''S. laticeps'' had 26. Also, the two differ in relative limb length. ''S. laticeps'' lived in

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 ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

References

Sphenodontia Extinct animals of Europe Prehistoric reptile genera {{paleo-reptile-stub