Adriosaurus
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Adriosaurus
| Adriosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 95 Ma |
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| London specimen of A. suessi above, with interpretative drawing of its skull on the left. Vienna holotype specimen of A. suessi below. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Infraorder: | Anguimorpha |
| (unranked): | Pythonomorpha |
| Genus: | Adriosaurus Seeley, 1881 |
| Species | |
Adriosaurus is an extinct genus of aquatic lizard that lived about 95 million years ago. It was snake-like and grew 10 to 12 inches. This is the first fossil record of vestigial limbs in lizards, and gives scientists a glimpse back to the time when terrestrial lizards evolved to be limbless and returned to their watery origins.[3][4]
Cladogram based on Palci and Caldwell (2010a), Caldwell and Palci (2010b)[5][2]:
| Anguimorpha |
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References
- ^ Alessandro Palci and Michael W. Caldwell (2007). "Vestigial forelimbs and axial elongation in a 95 million-year-old non-snake squamate". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[1:VFAAEI]2.0.CO;2. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27%5B1%3AVFAAEI%5D2.0.CO%3B2.
- ^ a b Michael W. Caldwell and Alessandro Palci (2010b). "A new species of marine ophidiomorph lizard, Adriosaurus skrbinensis, from the Upper Cretaceous of Slovenia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (3): 747–755. doi:10.1080/02724631003762963. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a922413515~frm=titlelink.
- ^ Ancient lizard missing front limbs - LiveScience - MSNBC.com
- ^ Aquatic Lizard Was Losing Its Front Limbs
- ^ Alessandro Palci and Michael W. Caldwell (2010a). "Redescription of Acteosaurus tommasinii von Meyer, 1860, and a discussion of evolutionary trends within the clade Ophidiomorpha". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (1): 94–108. doi:10.1080/02724630903409139. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a918963361&fulltext=713240928.
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