| Germanosaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Nothosauroidea |
| Suborder: | †Nothosauria |
| Family: | †Nothosauridae |
| Genus: | †Germanosaurus Nopcsa,1928 |
| Type species | |
| †Germanosaurus latissimus (Gürich, 1891) | |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Germanosaurus, meaning "German lizard", is anextinct aquaticgenus ofnothosauridsauropterygian known from the earlyMiddle Triassic (earlyAnisian stage)Lower Muschelkalk of what was known asUpper Silesia, now a part ofPoland. Thetype species ofGermanosaurus isG. latissimus, originally named as a species ofNothosaurus. After a new generic name was erected for it, theholotype fragmentaryskull was lost, possibly duringWorld War II. Rieppel (1997) thus considered the species to be anomen dubium in the species. However, from surviving illustrations and descriptions of the material, he concluded that another taxon known asCymatosaurus schafferi, is referable toGermanosaurus and possibly even represents the same species asG. latissimus. Rieppel removed the species fromCymatosaurus and created the new combinationG. schafferi, making it the only valid species ofGermanosaurus diagnosable to the species level.[1]
All known material ofG. schafferi, including the holotype skull, were collected from the same general locality as the holotype skull ofG. latissimus, at Sacrau (nowZakrzów), near Gogolin, Górny Śląsk (Upper Silesia) ofPoland. These deposits belong to the lower part of theGogolin Formation, which is a basal part of theLower Muschelkalk, dating to the earlyAnisian stage of the earlyMiddle Triassic, about 247million years ago.[1]
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