Anthracosaurus

Anthracosaurus is an extinct genus of embolomere, a possible distant relative of reptiles that lived during the Late Carboniferous (around 310 million years ago) in what is now Scotland and England. It was a large, aquatic eel-like predator able to grow up to 3 m (10 ft) in length.[1] It has a robust skull about 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) in length with large teeth in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth.[2] Anthracosaurus probably inhabited swamps, rivers and lakes. Its name is Greek for "coal lizard".

Anthracosaurus
Temporal range: Moscovian ~310 Ma
Life restoration of Anthracosaurus russeli
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Embolomeri
Family: Anthracosauridae
Cope, 1875
Genus: Anthracosaurus
Huxley, 1863
Type species
Anthracosaurus russelli
Huxley, 1863

The genus was named by Thomas Henry Huxley when James Russell, a mining surveyor, sent him the first specimens.[3]

References


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