| Omosaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | Archosauriformes |
| Clade: | Crurotarsi |
| Genus: | †Omosaurus Leidy,1856 |
| Species: | †O. perplexus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Omosaurus perplexus Leidy, 1856 | |
| Synonyms | |
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Omosaurus is adubiousgenus ofextinctcrurotarsanreptile, possibly aphytosaur, from theLate Triassic (Carnian) ofNorth Carolina.[1] Only scant remains are known, which makesOmosaurus hard to classify. The type, and only species,Omosaurus perplexus, was named and described in 1856 byJoseph Leidy.[1]
In the middle of the nineteenth century,geologist ProfessorEbenezer Emmons discovered several reptilian teeth in thecolliery of theChatham company inNorth Carolina.[2] In 1856, the fossils in his collection were described bypaleontologistJoseph Leidy. Leidy combined the teeth with some vertebrae and ribs; adding to them anosteoderm orscute found in the same strata by ProfessorMichael Tuomey, he named the wholeOmosaurus perplexus.[1] Leidy provided noetymology; thespecific name suggests he was intrigued by the "intricate" find. The generic name might be derived from the Greek ὠμός,omos, "rough", perhaps in reference to the rough surface of the scute or to the "savage" nature of a carnivorous reptile. Today, allsyntypes are lost.
The teeth were described as being rather straight, slightly curved inwards, conical and pointed with a length of up to one inch. They had two edges at the inside and a D-shaped cross-section with the convex part positioned at the outer side. The surface of the teeth was smooth with little wrinkles, running vertically at the inside and horizontally at the outside. The vertebrae wereamphicoelous and constricted at the waist, with a length of about three centimetres and somewhat taller than wide in cross-section. The scute was ornamented with a fan-shaped pattern of splitting ridges.[1]
Leidy himself believedOmosaurus to be a marine reptile, probably aplesiosaur, suspecting the remains were referable to some already named genus.[1] In 1902,Frederick Augustus Lucas recognised the fossils as "crocodilian" in nature and placedOmosaurus in theCrocodilia. At the same time he affirmed the priority overOmosaurus (Owen 1875), whichstegosaur was by him renamed toDacentrurus.[3] Today,Omosaurus is commonly listed as anomen dubium, a possible member of thePhytosauria.[4]
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