Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis

Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis is an extinct species of semi-aquatic reptile belonging to the family Pachypleurosauridae.

Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis
Temporal range: Middle Triassic
Serpianosaurus mirigiolensis from Besano, Italy. Middle Triassic (abt. 242 Ma)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
Superorder:
Sauropterygia
Order:
Nothosauroidea
Suborder:
Pachypleurosauria
Family:
Pachypleurosauridae
Genus:
Serpianosaurus
Species:
†S. mirigiolensis
Binomial name
†Serpianosaurus nirigiolensis
Rieppel, 1989 [1]

These reptiles lived in the Middle Triassic (Anisian/Ladinian boundary, about 242 million years ago) and its fossil remains were discovered in the oldest strata of Monte San Giorgio, on the border between Italy and Switzerland. Other fossils attributed to this genus have been found in Germany and Italy.

Description

This species can be distinguished from other closely related pachypleurosaurs on the basis of its proportionally large skull and straight jaw. Males and females are thought to differ in humeral size and shape. Unlike other pachipleurosaurs pachyostosis of the ribs is absent (the thickening of the ribs typical of many aquatic animals) and this is a primitive feature within the group.[2]

Bibliography
  • Rieppel, O. (1989). A New Pachypleurosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio, Switzerland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 323(1212):1-73.
  • Sander, P. M. (1989). The Pachypleurosaurids (Reptilia: Nothosauria) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) with the Description of a New Species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 325(1230):561-666.
  • Rieppel, C. (1994). The status of Anarosaurus multidentatus von Huene (Reptilia, Sauropterygia), from the Lower Anisian of the Lechtaler Alps (Arlberg, Austria). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 69(1-2):289-299.
  • Rieppel, O., (2000), Sauropterygia I, placodontia, pachypleurosauria, nothosauroidea, pistosauroidea: In: Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie, part 12A, 134pp. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil
  • Cajus G. Diedrich (2013). "The marine pachypleurosaur Serpianosaurus germanicus nov. spec. – skeleton and isolated bone remains from the Pelsonian (Middle Triassic) of the European Germanic basin carbonate intertidals and its paleobiology and taphonomy". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 61: 159–168.
  • Silvio Renesto, Giorgio Binelli & Hans Hagdorn (2014) A new pachypleurosaur from the Middle Triassic Besano Formation of Northern Italy. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 271(2): 151-168

References
  1. Paleobiology Database
  2. Palaeos


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