Misplaced Pages

Simoedosaurus: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 19:03, 10 December 2017 editLythronaxargestes (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers12,210 editsm Reverted edits by Falconfly (talk) to last version by LythronaxargestesTag: Rollback← Previous edit Revision as of 19:09, 10 December 2017 edit undoFalconfly (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users3,356 edits Undid revision 814755164 by Lythronaxargestes (talk)Next edit →
Line 15: Line 15:
}} }}
'''''Simoedosaurus''''' is an extinct reptile known from the ] of North America, Europe and western Asia,<ref>A. O. Averianov. 2005. The first choristoderes (Diapsida, Choristodera) from the Paleogene of Asia. Palaeontological Journal 39(1):79-84</ref> and a member of the ], a group of aquatic reptiles that lived in the Northern Hemisphere from the Jurassic to the early Cenozoic. '''''Simoedosaurus''''' is an extinct reptile known from the ] of North America, Europe and western Asia,<ref>A. O. Averianov. 2005. The first choristoderes (Diapsida, Choristodera) from the Paleogene of Asia. Palaeontological Journal 39(1):79-84</ref> and a member of the ], a group of aquatic reptiles that lived in the Northern Hemisphere from the Jurassic to the early Cenozoic.

]


==Phylogenetics== ==Phylogenetics==

Revision as of 19:09, 10 December 2017

Simoedosaurus
Temporal range: Paleocene-Eocene
Fossil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Choristodera
Suborder: Neochoristodera
Genus: Simoedosaurus
Gervais, 1877
Type species
Simoedosaurus lemoinei
Gervais, 1877
Other species
  • S. dakotensis Erickson, 1987

Simoedosaurus is an extinct reptile known from the Paleocene of North America, Europe and western Asia, and a member of the Choristodera, a group of aquatic reptiles that lived in the Northern Hemisphere from the Jurassic to the early Cenozoic.

File:Simoedosaurus.png
Life restoration.

Phylogenetics

Though similar to and conspecific, Simoedosaurus is not closely related to the North American Champsosaurus, instead it appears to be most closely related to Tchoiria and Ikechosaurus from the Early Cretaceous of Asia. It therefore may represent a species that immigrated into North America from Asia in the wake of the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event, though the absence of choristoderes in the Late Cretaceous of Asia makes this merely a paleogeographical speculation.

Biology

Simoedosaurus was an aquatic predator, specialised to a fully aquatic lifestyle; though Champsosaurus might have still come ashore to lay eggs, ovovivipary is known in other choristoderes. It in particular possesses broader, stronger jaws than other longirostrine choristoderes, including its closest relatives, suggesting that it was capable of tackling larger prey.

Simoedosaurus does occur in sites where aquatic crocodilians are present, including brevirostrine forms like Borealosuchus; the extent of competition between both groups, if there was any, is still unresolved.

Range

The earliest records of Simoedosaurus are from the Early Paleocene (Puercan Land Mammal Age) of Saskatchewan. It persisted until the Late Palaecene in North America, and has also been found in the Late Paleocene of France. The youngest remains seem to occur in the Eocene of Kazakhstan.

References

  1. A. O. Averianov. 2005. The first choristoderes (Diapsida, Choristodera) from the Paleogene of Asia. Palaeontological Journal 39(1):79-84
  2. R. Matsumoto and S. E. Evans. 2010. Choristoderes and the freshwater assemblages of Laurasia. Journal of Iberian Geology 36(2):253-274
  3. Ji Q., Ji, S., Lü, J., You, H. and Yuan, C. (2006). "Embryos of Early Cretaceous Choristodera (Reptilia) from the Jehol Biota in western Liaoning, China." Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea, 22(1): 111-118.
  4. Morphology and function of the palatal dentition in Choristodera Article in Journal of Anatomy 228(3):n/a-n/a · November 2015 DOI: 10.1111/joa.12414
  5. R. Matsumoto and S. E. Evans. 2010. Choristoderes and the freshwater assemblages of Laurasia. Journal of Iberian Geology 36(2):253-274
  6. A. O. Averianov. 2005. The first choristoderes (Diapsida, Choristodera) from the Paleogene of Asia. Palaeontological Journal 39(1):79-84


Stub icon

This article about a prehistoric reptile is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: