Osmolskina is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of archosauriform reptile which lived during the Early Triassic

Early Triassic

The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251 ± 0.4 Ma and 245 ± 1.5 Ma . Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic, which is a unit in chronostratigraphy...

 in what is now Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

, Osmolskina czatkowicensis, was described by Magdalena Borsuk−Białynicka and Susan Evans in 2003. The generic name honors the late female Polish paleontologist

Paleontology

Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

 Halszka Osmólska

Halszka Osmólska

Halszka Osmólska was a Polish paleontologist who had specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs.She was born in Poznań. A member of the 1965 and 1970 Polish–Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi Desert, she described many finds from these rocks, often with Teresa Maryańska...

.

Osmolskina closely resembles the well-known genus Euparkeria

Euparkeria

Euparkeria was a small African reptile of the early Triassic period between 248-245 million years ago, close to the ancestry of the archosaurs.- Palaeobiology :...

. The authors of the 2003 paper considered classifying Osmolskina within the family Euparkeriidae

Euparkeriidae

Euparkeriidae is a family of small basal archosauromorph carnivores which lived from the Early Triassic to the Middle Triassic . Their fossil remains are known so far from South Africa and Russia...

, noting the animal's close resemblance to Euparkeria

Euparkeria

Euparkeria was a small African reptile of the early Triassic period between 248-245 million years ago, close to the ancestry of the archosaurs.- Palaeobiology :...

, but concluded that "Euparkeriidae remains monotypic because no other genus can be assigned to it with confidence."

External links

• Paleo Article (contains abstract of full paper on Osmolskina)