Carpenter's Tearing Lizard

Carpenter's Tearing Lizard Temporal range: 157–137 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Oxfordian - Berriasian (Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Subclass:	Diapsida
Infraclass:	Archosauromorpha
(unranked):	Mesoeucrocodylia
Suborder:	†Thalattosuchia
Family:	Metriorhynchidae
Genus:	Dakosaurus von Quenstedt, 1856[1]
Species:	carpenteri Wilkinson, Young and Benton, 2008[2]

Carpenter’s tearing lizard, Dakosaurus carpenteri Wilkinson, Young and Benton, 2008, is an extinct aquatic crocodyliform archosaur known from fossils from England of the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian).^[3]

The name Dakosaurus means "tearing lizard", and is derived from the Greek Dakos- ("to tear") and -sauros ("lizard"). Dakosaurus species lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. They were large, with teeth that were serrated and flattened from side to side. Its extensive adaptation to a marine lifestyle indicates that it most likely mated at sea, but no eggs or nests have been discovered that have been referred to Dakosaurus, so whether it gave birth to live young at sea like dolphins and ichthyosaurs or came ashore like turtles is not known.

The species was named to honor Simon Carpenter, an amateur geologist from Frome, Somersetshire, England who provided access to the fossil material.^[4]

See the main article Metriorhynchidae for additional information about the metriorhynchids.

References

1. ^ Quenstedt FA. 1856. Sonst und Jetzt: Populäre Vortäge über Geologie. Tübingen: Laupp, 131.
2. ^ Wilkinson LE, Young MT, Benton MJ. 2008. A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 51 (6): 1307-1333.
3. ^ Wilkinson et al., op. cit.
4. ^ "Amateur geologist's Jurassic discoveries go on display", from the Evening Post, Thursday, February 12, 2009, 15:45, http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Amateur-geologist-s-Jurassic-discoveries-display/article-694050-detail/article.html, n.d.