Teleidosaurus
Genus of large reptiles
Teleidosaurus is an extinct genus of carnivorous metriorhynchoid crocodyliform from Middle Jurassic (late Bajocian to early Bathonian stage) deposits of Normandy, France. The name Teleidosaurus means "Complete lizard", and is derived from the Greek Teleidos- ("complete") and σαῦρος -sauros ("lizard").
01Discovery
The type species was named Teleosaurus Calvadosii [Sic] by Jacques Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps in 1866; however, it was his son, Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps who erected the generic name Teleidosaurus later in 1869 for Teleosaurus calvadosii. Teleidosaurus joberti from the Great Oolite Formation is a junior synonym of T. calvadosii. T. calvadosii is known from the plastotype NHM R.2681, a complete skull and mandible and from NHM 32612, the plastotype of T. joberti, fragmentary right mandible. The holotype lost during the Second World War. However, some plastoholotypes of T. calvadosii were saved in the Natural History Museum, London, (NHMUK PV R 2681), the National Museum of Natural History, France, and the Museum of Nancy.
02Classification
The only species within Teleidosaurus is the type species T. calvadosii. Both T. bathonicus and T. gaudryi where referred to Eoneustes. All species are from Calvados, Normandy of France. Phylogenetic analyses do not support the monophyly of Teleidosaurus. Once considered a metriorhynchid, Teleidosaurus was later recovered as non-metriorhynchid metriorhynchoid.
The cladogram below is from a 2024 study on the relationships of thalattosuchians.
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Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Teleidosaurus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Bulletin de la Société linnéenne de Normandie (1864-1865) (20247561130).jpg by Société linnéenne de Normandie, No restrictions
- Teleidosaurus BW.jpg by User:ArthurWeasley, CC BY 2.5
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