Corosaurus

Corosaurus Temporal range: Early Triassic, 247.4–245 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Branch:	†Pistosauroidea
Family:	†Corosauridae Kuhn, 1961
Genus:	†Corosaurus Case, 1936
Species:	†C. alcovensis
Binomial name
Corosaurus alcovensis Case, 1936

Corosaurus is an extinct genus of pistosauroid known from Wyoming of the USA.^[1][2]

Description

Corosaurus is known from the holotype UW 5485, a partial skeleton which includes the skull.^[1] Later, the referred specimens YPM 41030-41068, FMNH PR 135, FMNH PR 1368-1369, FMNH PR 242-246 and FMNH PR 1382-1383 were described by Glenn William Storrs in 1991. All specimens were collected in Jackson Canyon, Natrona County, from the Chugwater Group of the Alcova Limestone Formation, dating to the late Olenekian stage of the late Early Triassic, about 247.4-245 million years ago.^[3] After a revision of the holotype and referred material of Corosaurus, Olivier Rieppel found Corosaurus to be the sister-taxon to a clade comprising Cymatosaurus, Pistosaurus and Plesiosauria.^[2]

Etymology

Corosaurus was first named by Ermine Cowles Case in 1936 and the type species is Corosaurus alcovensis. The specific name is derived from the name of the Alcova Limestone Formation, in which the holotype was found.^[1] Corosaurus was placed in its own family, Corosauridae, which named by Oskar Kuhn, in 1961.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Ermine Cowles Case (1936). "A nothosaur from the Triassic of Wyoming". University of Michigan Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology 5 (1): 1–36. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Olivier Rieppel (1998). "Corosaurus alcovensis Case and the phylogenetic interrelationships of Triassic stem-group Sauropterygia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 124 (1): 1–41. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1998.tb00568.x. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Glenn William Storrs (1991). "Anatomy and Relationships of Corosaurus alcovensis (Diapsida: Sauropterygia) and the Triassic Alcova Limestone of Wyoming". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University 44: 1–151. 

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