Parasaurus

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Not to be confused with Parasaurolophus.

Parasaurus
Temporal range: Wuchiapingian, 258.9–255.7 Ma
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Parasaurus NT.png
Restoration
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: †Parareptilia
Order: †Procolophonomorpha
Clade: †Pareiasauria
Family: †Pareiasauridae
Genus: †Parasaurus
von Meyer, 1857
Type species
†Parasaurus geinitzi
von Meyer, 1857

Parasaurus (meaning "near lizard") is a genus of pareiasaur known from fossils collected in the Kupferschiefer in Germany (Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony) dating to the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian) The type species, Parasaurus geinitzi, described by Hermann von Meyer in 1857, was the first pareiasaur ever described. The seven known specimens were redescribed in 2008.[1]

Discovery and naming[]

As early as 1848, pareiasaur fossils have been reported from Germany - some of these fossils may have belonged to Parasaurus.[2] It was not until 1857 when von Meyer described these fossils and created the Parasaurus genus.[3] von Meyer classified Parasaurus as a reptile but it was classified as a pareiasaur when the family was created in 1888.[4][5] Lee (1997) classified Parasaurus as a nomen dubium. In 2008, Tsuji and Müller re-evaluated the genus.[1]

Description[]

Parasaurus was small for a pareiasaur, only around half a metre long. Axial osteoderms appear to be absent. The skull surface is pitted, with small spike-like horns on the supratemporal and quadratojugal.[1]

Phylogeny[]

Below is a cladogram from Tsuji et al. (2013):[6]

Pareiasauria
 

"Bradysaurus" seeleyi

 
 
 

Bradysaurus baini

 
 

Nochelesaurus

 
 
 

Embrithosaurus

 
 
 

Bunostegos

 
 
 
 

Deltavjatia

 
 

Parasaurus

 
 
Velosauria
 
 

Nanopareia

 
 

Provelosaurus

 
 
 

Anthodon

 
 

Pumiliopareia

 
 
 
 
 
 

Shansisaurus

 
 
 

Shihtienfenia

 
 
 

Pareiasuchus peringueyi

 
 

Pareiasuchus nasicornis

 
 
 
 
 
 

Arganaceras

 
 

Elginia

 
 

 
 

Pareiasaurus

 
 

 
 

Scutosaurus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References[]

  1. ^ a b c L. A. Tsuji and J. Müller. 2008. A Re-evaluation of Parasaurus geinitzi, the first named pareiasaur (Amniota, Parareptilia). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45(10):1111-1121
  2. ^ Geinitz, H.B. 1848. Die Versteinerungen des deutschen Zechsteingebirges. In Die Verteinerungen des Zechsteingebirges und Rothliegenden oder des permischen Systemes in Sachsen. Edited by H.B. Geinitz and A. von Gutbier. Arnoldische Buchhandlung, Dresden and Leipzig, pp. 1–29. Google Scholar
  3. ^ von Meyer, 1857
  4. ^ H. G. Seeley. 1888. Croonian Lecture: Researches on the Structure, Organization, and Classification of the Fossil Reptilia. II. On Pareiasaurus bombidens (Owen), and the Significance of Its Affinities to Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 179:59-109
  5. ^ Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (24 June 2013). "Pareiasaur: Bumpy beast was a desert dweller". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  6. ^ Tsuji, L. A.; Sidor, C. A.; Steyer, J. - S. B.; Smith, R. M. H.; Tabor, N. J.; Ide, O. (2013). "The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Permian of Niger—VII. Cranial anatomy and relationships of Bunostegos akokanensis (Pareiasauria)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (4): 747–763. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.739537. S2CID 86097405.
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