Termatosaurus ("end lizard", because it came from the end of the Upper Triassic) is a genus of archosaur known from several tooth specimens differentiated between two species. Its remains come from the Upper Triassic and was once thought to have survived until the Early Jurassic, but the Jurassic remains were redescribed as plesiosaur remains. It has only been found in France, England, Germany and Switzerland. and two species are known of this animal: the type species, Termatosaurus albertii, named by Meyer and T. Plieninger in 1844;[1] and T. crocodilinus, by Quenstedt (1858). It is very obscure and apparently considered to be dubious.[2]
According to Oskar Kuhn, Termatosaurus is a plesiosaur (of the Rhomaleosauridae),[3][4] while according to other sources, it is a phytosaur.[5] Currently, Termatosaurus is seen as a dubious archosaur.
Gallery[]
Tooth of T. albertii
References[]
^H. v. Meyer and T. Plieninger. (1844). Beiträge zur Paläontologie Württemberg’s, enthaltend die Fossilen Wirbelthierreste aus den Triasgebilden mit Besonderer Rücksicht auf die Labyrinthodonten des Keupers [Contributions to the Paleontology of Württemberg, Including the Fossil Vertebrate Remains from the Triassic Formations with Special Regard to the Labyrinthodonts of the Keupers] 1-132
^Stocker, M. R.; Butler, R. J. (2013). "Phytosauria". Geological Society, London, Special Publications.doi:10.1144/SP379.5.
^O. Kuhn. (1964). Ungelöste Probleme der Stammesgeschichte der Amphibien und Reptilien [Unsolved problems of the phylogeny of amphibians and reptiles]. Jahreshefte des Vereins für vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 118/119:293-325
^O. Kuhn. (1971). Die Saurier der deutschen Trias [Reptiles of the German Triassic] 1-105
^H. v. Meyer. (1845). System der fossilen Saurier [Taxonomy of fossil saurians]. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakten-Kunde 1845:278-285
