| Saurosphargis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Family: | †Saurosphargidae |
| Genus: | †Saurosphargis Huene,1936 |
| Type species | |
| †Saurosphargis volzi Huene, 1936 | |
Saurosphargis is anextinctgenus of abasalmarine reptile,saurosphargid, known from theMiddle Triassic (Anisian age) of southwesternPoland and easternNetherlands. It contains asingle species,Saurosphargis volzi.[1][2]
Saurosphargis is known solely from the unnumberedholotype that was housed at the Breslaw Museum, a partialpostcranial skeleton that included a section of 12 incompleteback vertebrae withribs. The specimen collected at Gogolin, Gorny Slask ofUpper Silesia,Poland, from the Chorzower Schichten horizon of theLower Muschelkalk, dating to the earlyAnisian stage of the earlyMiddle Triassic, about 246million years ago. Rieppel (1995) described an isolatedvertebra MGU Wr. 3873s housed at Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Wroclaw, that is possibly referable toSaurosphargis, collected from the same general location. The holotype was destroyed duringWorld War II, and as a result many authors consideredSaurosphargis to be anomen dubium prior to the discovery of additionalsaurosphargid species, that enabled better comparisons with the detailed descriptions and figures ofSaurosphargis in Huene (1936).[2]
Paul Albers and Liet al. (2011) briefly reported the discovery of well-preserved material referable toSaurosphargis from the Lower Muschelkalk ofWinterswijk,Netherlands. The material is currently under preparation.[2]
Saurosphargis was officially named byFriedrich von Huene in1936 and thetype species isSaurosphargis volzi. Thegeneric name is derived fromGreeksauros, "lizard", andsphargis, the old genus name for theleatherback turtle, in reference to the dorsalosteoderm "body armor" and broadened ribs forming a closed chest rib basket, traits that are seemingly transitional betweenturtles and other reptiles. Thespecific namevolzi honors the paleontologistWilhelm Volz who found and briefly described the holotype ofSaurosphargis and the Lower Muschelkalk of Gogolin between 1903 and 1908.[1][3]
The followingcladogram is simplified after Liet al. (2014)phylogenetic analysis, showing interrelationships of all knownSaurosphargidae species, and the placement of the clade withinSauria.Saurosphargis was coded solely based on the holotype. The removal / inclusion ofIchthyopterygia was found to affect thetopology the most - switching the positions of theEusaurosphargis+Helveticosaurus andThalattosauriformes clades, and altering the positions of several taxa withinEosauropterygia, which are not shown.[4]
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