Osteology of Simosaurus gaillardoti and the relationships of stem-group Sauropterygia

Title Variants

Alternative: Simosaurus gaillardoti

Related Titles

Series: Fieldiana, Geology, new ser., no. 28
Series: Publication (Field Museum of Natural History), 1462

By

Rieppel, Olivier

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

[Chicago, Ill.], Field Museum of Natural History, 1994

Notes

"Accepted July 19, 1994. Published December 30, 1994."

Simosaurus gaillardoti H.v. Meyer, 1842, is recognized as the only species of its genus. An amended diagnosis of the genus is given here. Simosaurus mougeoti H.v. Meyer, 1842, is a lower jaw of Nothosaurus; Simosaurus guilielmi H.v. Meyer, 1847-1855, is a junior synonym of Simosaurus gaillardoti. The skeletal morphology of Simosaurus is redescribed in detail and compared to that of other stem-group (non plesio- and pliosaur) Sauropterygia (including Placodus). Ninety-four skeletal characters are defined and used in a phylogenetic analysis. Placodus is shown to be the sister-taxon of the Eosauropterygia, placodonts and eosauropterygians together constituting the monophyletic Sauropterygia. Within the Eosauropterygia, Corosaurus is the sister-taxon of an unnamed clade comprising Pacypleurosauroidea plus Eusauropterygia. Simosaurus is the sister-taxon to all other eusauropterygians included in the analysis (the Cymatosaurus-Nothosaurus-Lariosaurus-Pistosaurus clade). Functional morphological correlates of the skeleton suggest that Simosaurus was capable of sustained swimming in the shallow epicontinental sea in pursuit of prey such as "holostean"-grade fishes and, perhaps, ammonites.

Abstract also in German.

Fieldiana series has been published as Geological Series by Field Columbian Museum (1895-1909) and Field Museum of Natural History (1909-1943), and as Fieldiana: Geology by Chicago Natural History Museum (1945-1966) and Field Museum of Natural History (1966-).

Subjects

Morphology , Phylogeny , Sauropterygia , Simosaurus gaillardoti

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.3399
OCLC: 31804935
Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q51515459