Extinct Archosaurs Codexery

Aetosauria

Heavily armored Late Triassic pseudosuchians with small heads and four rows of bony plates.

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The extinct order Aetosauria consists of heavily armored reptiles whose name comes from the Greek words for "eagle" (aetos) and "lizard" (sauros).[1] These pseudosuchians were medium to large in size, ate plants or both plants and animals, and belong to the archosaur lineage that is more closely related to crocodilians than to birds or non-avian dinosaurs.[1]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassReptilia
  4. CladePseudosuchia
  5. Order†Aetosauria

Named by Lydekker, 1887

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Aetosauria (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Number of genera
Around 10–15 valid genera

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Aetosaur material was first described by Swiss paleontologist Louis Agassiz in 1844, who named the genus Stagonolepis but considered the fossil a Devonian fish rather than a Triassic reptile.[2] More complete articulated skeletons of 22 aetosaurs were found in Germany in the 1870s and assigned to the newly erected genus Aetosaurus by Oscar Fraas in 1877.[3] The body of an aetosaur features a small skull, an upturned snout, legs held upright beneath the body, and four rows of flat, plate-like bony scutes (osteoderms) covering the back.[1] In 1889, Richard Lydekker and Henry Alleyne Nicholson formally named the group Aetosauria, treating it as a suborder within Crocodilia.[4]

What the cited sources add

The same source states that a 1985 paper formed the foundation of all current work on aetosaurs, though recent work has shown that paramedian osteoderm ornamentation is shared within more inclusive clades rather than species.[5] A 2009 blog post on osteoderm nomenclature explains that the dorsal eminence is often very pronounced in the lateral plates, marking an area of strong flexion that divides the plate into dorsal and lateral flanges.[6] A blog post by Parker notes that E.D. Cope described the first North American aetosaur material, Typothorax and Episcoposaurus, in the late 1800s, and his rival O.C. Marsh also described an aetosaur (Stegomus), but the first two taxa were thought to be phytosaurs at the time.[5]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Aetosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heckert, "South American occurrences of the Adamanian (Late Triassic: Latest Carnian) index taxon Stagonolepis (Archosauria: Aetosauria) and their biochronological significance", Journal of Paleontology, 2002, p. 852–863; Lucas, "Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology", Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1998, p. 347–384; Desojo, "Aetosauria: A clade of armoured pseudosuchians from the Upper Triassic continental beds", Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2013, p. 203–239 (original not read by en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Aetosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Agassiz, "Monographie des poisons fossils du Vieux Grés Rouge ou Systéme Dévonien (Old Red Sandstone) des Iles Britanniques ed de Russie", Jent et Gassman, 1844, p. 171 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Aetosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fraas, "Aetosaurus ferratus Fr. Die gepanzerte Vogel-Echse aus dem Stubensandstein bei Stuttgar", Festschrift zur Feier des 400jährigen Jubiläums der Eberhard-Karls-Universät zu Tübingen, Wurttembergische Naturwissenscha (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Aetosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nicholson, "A manual of palaeontology for the use of students, with a general introduction on the principles of palaeontology", Nature, 1889, p. 1180–1196 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Parker, "The Aetosaur Paper that Changed Everything", Chinleana, 13 February 2009. facts only, no text reused. chinleana.blogspot.com
  6. Bill Parker (12 August 2009). "Aetosaurs 101: Osteoderm Nomenclature." Chinleana. Accessed 8 January 2010.. facts only, no text reused. chinleana.blogspot.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Aetosauria (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Louis Agassiz

Also in the Codexery

Aetosauria · Prehistoric Beasts

More in Extinct Archosaurs

AnurognathidaeArchosauromorphaAzhdarchidaeBaurusuchidaeBoverisuchusChampsosaurusCoelurosauriaCarnosauriaCrocodyliaCryptoclidusDeinosuchusDimorphodon

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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