Actiosaurus (meaning "coast lizard") is an extinct genus of reptile first described by Henri Sauvage in 1883[1] from Antully bonebed, Autun (Triassic of France). The type species is A. gaudryi (commonly misspelled A. gaudrii after Boulenger[2]). Little is known of it, and it is considered a nomen dubium. Actiosaurus was originally described as a dinosaur in 1883 and was reinterpreted as an ichthyosaur in 1908. Actiosaurus may instead represent the remains of a choristodere.[3] Fischer et al. (2014) considered A. gaudryi to be a species inquirenda, and noted the similarity of its bones to the limb bones of choristoderes.[4]
| Actiosaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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| Actiosaurus gaudryi humerus (anterior view), Sauvage (1883). | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Genus: | †Actiosaurus Sauvage, 1883 |
| Species: | †A. gaudryi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Actiosaurus gaudryi Sauvage, 1883
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See also
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References
edit- ^ Sauvage, H. (1883). "Recherches sur les reptiles trouves dans l'etage Rhetien des environs d'Autun". Annales des Sciences Geologiques 14 (6, Article 3) : 1–44.
- ^ Boulenger, G. A. (1883). Page 6 in "Reptilia and Batrachia". Rye, E. C. (ed.). The Zoological Record for 1883. Record of Zoological Literature 20.
- ^ Mortimer, M. (13 June 2010). "Actiosaurus is a choristodere not an ichthyosaur". The Theropod Database Blog. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ Valentin Fischer; Henri Cappetta; Peggy Vincent; Géraldine Garcia; Stijn Goolaerts; Jeremy E. Martin; Daniel Roggero; Xavier Valentin (2014). "Ichthyosaurs from the French Rhaetian indicate a severe turnover across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary". Naturwissenschaften. 101 (12): 1027–1040. Bibcode:2014NW....101.1027F. doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1242-7. hdl:2268/172355. PMID 25256640. S2CID 619439.
External links
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