Pistosaurus

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Pistosaurus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, Anisian–Ladinian
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Fossil
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Sauropterygia
Family: Pistosauridae
Zittel, 1887
Genus: †Pistosaurus
Meyer, 1839
Type species
<templatestyles src="Noitalic/styles.css"/>Pistosaurus longaevus
Meyer, 1839

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Pistosaurus is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile closely related to plesiosaurs. Fossils have been found in France and Germany, and date to the Middle Triassic. It contains a single species, Pistosaurus longaevus

Description

File:Pistosaurus BW.jpg
Restoration of Pistosaurus longaevus

Pistosaurus was about Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). long, and had a body form resembling that of nothosaurs, aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Triassic. However, the vertebral column was stiff, like that of a plesiosaur, implying that the animal used its paddle-like flippers to propel itself through the water, as the plesiosaurs probably did. The head also resembled that of a plesiosaur, but with the primitive palate of a nothosaur, and numerous, sharp teeth ideal for catching and eating fish.[1]

Classification

Although it is unlikely that Pistosaurus was a direct ancestor of the plesiosaurs, the mixture of features suggests that it was closely related to that group.[1]

The following cladogram follows an analysis by Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[2]

References

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