Meyerasaurus

Meyerasaurus is an extinct genus of rhomaleosaurid known from Holzmaden, Baden-Württemberg of southwestern Germany.[1]

Meyerasaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 183–180 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
The holotype in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
Family:	†Rhomaleosauridae
Genus:	†Meyerasaurus Smith & Vincent, 2010
Species:	†M. victor
Binomial name
†Meyerasaurus victor (Fraas, 1910 [originally Plesiosaurus])
Synonyms
Plesiosaurus victor Fraas, 1910 Thaumatosaurus victor Fraas, 1910 Eurycleidus victor Zittel, 1932 Rhomaleosaurus victor Tarlo, 1960

Description

Restoration

Meyerasaurus is known from the holotype SMNS 12478, articulated and complete skeleton which preserved the skull, exposed in ventral view. The skull has a length of 37 centimetres (15 in; 1.21 ft), and the animal is about 3.35 m (11.0 ft) in length. It was collected from the Harpoceras elegantulum-falciferum ammonoid subzones, Harpoceras falcifer zone, of the famous Posidonien-Schiefer lagerstätte (Posidonia Shale), dating to the early Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic, about 183-180 million years ago.[1]

Etymology

Meyerasaurus was first named by Adam S. Smith and Peggy Vincent in 2010 and the type species is Meyerasaurus victor. It was originally classified as a species of Plesiosaurus, later as the second named species of Thaumatosaurus (defunct name, meaning "wonder reptile") and ultimately as a species of Eurycleidus or Rhomaleosaurus. The generic name honors the German palaeontologist Hermann von Meyer for proposing the generic name Thaumatosaurus.[1]

Classification

The cladogram below shows Meyerasaurus phylogenetic position among other plesiosaurs, following Benson et al. (2012).[2]

Plesiosauria	Neoplesiosauria    Pliosauridae     Plesiosauroidea      Rhomaleosauridae    Stratesaurus taylori       Macroplata tenuiceps       Avalonnectes arturi       Eurycleidus arcuatus       Meyerasaurus victor       Maresaurus coccai       Atychodracon megacephalus       Archaeonectrus rostratus       Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni       Rhomaleosaurus thorntoni     Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus

See also

• List of plesiosaur genera
• Timeline of plesiosaur research

References

1. Adam S. Smith and Peggy Vincent (2010). "A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany" (PDF). Palaeontology. 53 (5): 1049–1063. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00975.x.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
2. Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller (2012). "High Diversity, Low Disparity and Small Body Size in Plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary". PLoS ONE. 7 (3): e31838. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031838. PMC 3306369. PMID 22438869.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)