Anthracosaurus

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Anthracosaurus
Temporal range: Moscovian ~310 Ma
Anthracosaurus russeli12DB.jpg
Life restoration of Anthracosaurus russeli
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Embolomeri
Family: Anthracosauridae
Cope, 1875
Genus: Anthracosaurus
Huxley, 1863
Type species
Anthracosaurus russelli
Huxley, 1863

Anthracosaurus is an extinct genus of embolomere, a possible distant relative of reptiles that lived during the Late Carboniferous (around 310 million years ago) in what is now Scotland and England. It was a large, aquatic eel-like predator able to grow up to 3 m (10 ft) in length.[1] It has a robust skull about 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) in length with large teeth in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth.[2] Anthracosaurus probably inhabited swamps, rivers and lakes. Its name is Greek for "coal lizard".

The genus was named by Thomas Henry Huxley when James Russell, a mining surveyor, sent him the first specimens.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Palaeocritti - a guide to prehistoric animals
  2. ^ Panchen, A.L. (1977). "On Anthracosaurus russelli Huxley (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia) and the family Anthracosauridae". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 279 (968): 447–512. doi:10.1098/rstb.1977.0096.
  3. ^ Description of Anthracosaurus Russelli, a new Labyrinthodont from the Lanarkshire Coal-field, Q.J.Geol.Soc.Lon.,v.19,

External links[]


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