Aggiosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Aggiosaurus"
fossil_range = Fossil range|157|155Oxfordian (Late Jurassic)
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
subclassis = Diapsida
infraclassis = Archosauromorpha
unranked_ordo = Mesoeucrocodylia
subordo = Thalattosuchia
familia = Metriorhynchidae
genus = "Aggiosaurus"
genus_authority = Ambayrac, 1913

"Aggiosaurus" is a genus of marine crocodylian from the Late Jurassic period of the Oxfordian stage, around 155 to 157 million years ago. "Aggiosaurus" was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea. No "Aggiosaurus" eggs or nests have been discovered, so little is known of the reptile's lifecycle, unlike other large marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, such as plesiosaurs or ichthyosaurs which are known to give birth to live young out at sea. Where "Aggiosaurus" mated, whether on land or at sea, is currently unknown.

History of discovery

There is only a single described species within "Aggiosaurus", the type species "A. nicaeensis", named in 1913 by Ambayrac, who mistakenly classified it as a megalosaurid. Buffetaut Buffetaut E. 1982. "Aggiosaurus nicaeensis" Ambayrac, 1913, from the Upper Jurassic of south-eastern France: A marine crocodilian, not a dinosaur. "Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte" (8): 469-475.] in 1982 demonstrated that it was in fact a metriorhynchid, closely related to, if not a member of "Dakosaurus". As the type specimen is poorly preserved it is considered nomen dubium. "Aggiosaurus" has been considered a junior synonym of the theropod dinosaur "Megalosaurus" (which has been demonstrated as a mistake) and of "Dakosaurus", though due the holotype's poor state of preservation this cannot be determined.

ee also

*List of marine reptiles

References