Cherminotus

Cherminotus is an extinct genus of monitor lizard from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type and only species, Cherminotus longifrons, was named in 1984.

Cherminotus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 75 Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus: †Cherminotus
Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984
Species:
†C. longifrons
Binomial name
†Cherminotus longifrons
Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984

Description and history

Cherminotus longifrons was first described in 1984 from the Barun Goyot Formation. More specimens were later found in the Djadokhta Formation in localities such as Ukhaa Tolgod.[1]

Cherminotus is small for a monitor lizard and has a longer snout than its closest relative, the living Earless monitor lizard. Cherminotus is also very similar in appearance to Aiolosaurus, another monitor from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. Both monitors have a single hole in the lacrimal bone called the lacrimal foramen. Other monitors and monitor ancestors have two holes in the lacrimal, making the presence of only one hole in Cherminotus a case of evolutionary reversal.[2]

References
  1. Gao, K.; Norell, M.A. (2000). "Taxonomic composition and systematics of Late Cretaceous lizard assemblages from Ukhaa Tolgod and adjacent localities, Mongolian Gobi Desert". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 249: 1–118. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)249<0001:tcasol>2.0.co;2. hdl:2246/1596.
  2. Conrad, J.L. (2008). "Phylogeny and systematics of Squamata (Reptilia) based on morphology". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 310: 1–182. doi:10.1206/310.1. hdl:2246/5915.


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