Prehistoric reptile
Encyclopedia
The term prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

covers a broad category that is intended to help distinguish the dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

s from other prehistoric reptiles. As the dinosaurs, because of their long and successful reign for many millions of years, are almost exclusively dealt with in their own category of prehistoric life.

The category covers all the non-dinosaurian reptiles which are often erroneously considered to be dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

s, such as the sea faring varieties of plesiosaur
Plesiosaur
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...

s and the flying pterosaur
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

s. Also included are ancient crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

s such as Deinosuchus
Deinosuchus
Deinosuchus is an extinct genus related to the alligator that lived 73 to 80 Ma , during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos , "terrible", and soukhos , "crocodile"...

.

For information on the mammal-like "reptiles" (therapsids) and other amniote
Amniote
The amniotes are a group of tetrapods that have a terrestrially adapted egg. They include synapsids and sauropsids , as well as their fossil ancestors. Amniote embryos, whether laid as eggs or carried by the female, are protected and aided by several extensive membranes...

s often considered reptiles (including the well-known Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon was a predatory synapsid genus that flourished during the Permian period, living between 280–265 million years ago ....

), which are not part of the clade Sauropsida (with which "Reptilia" is generally synonymized), see Synapsid
Synapsid
Synapsids are a group of animals that includes mammals and everything more closely related to mammals than to other living amniotes. They are easily separated from other amniotes by having an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye, leaving a bony arch beneath each, accounting for their name...

 (amniotes related to mammals). For information on the ancestors of reptiles, traditionally classified as labyrinthodont amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s, see Reptiliomorpha
Reptiliomorpha
Reptiliomorpha refers to an order or subclass of reptile-like amphibians, which gave rise to the amniotes in the Carboniferous. Under phylogenetic nomenclature, the Reptiliomorpha includes their amniote descendants though, even in phylogenetic nomenclature, the name is mostly used when referring to...

 (reptile-like tetrapod
Tetrapod
Tetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...

s).

Early reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

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  • Silvanerpeton
    Silvanerpeton
    Silvanerpeton is an extinct genus of early reptiliomorph found in the East Kirkton Quarry of West Lothian, Scotland. The find is important, as the quarry represents terrestrial deposits from the Romer's gap, a period poor in fossils where the higher groups labyrinthodonts evolved...

  • Captorhinids
    Captorhinidae
    Captorhinidae is one of the earliest and most basal reptile families.-Description:...

  • Protorothyridids
    Protorothyrididae
    Protorothyrididae is a family of small, lizard-like reptiles. Their skulls did not have fenestrae, as is also true of modern turtles and tortoises. Protorothyridids lived from the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian periods, in what is now North America. Many genera of primitive reptiles were...

    • Hylonomus
      Hylonomus
      Hylonomus was a very early reptile. It lived 312 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period.It is the earliest unquestionable reptile ....


Early anapsid
Anapsid
An anapsid is an amniote whose skull does not have openings near the temples.While "anapsid reptiles" or "anapsida" are traditionally spoken of as if they were a monophyletic group, it has been suggested that several groups of reptiles that had anapsid skulls may be only distantly related...

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  • Brazilosaurus
    Brazilosaurus
    Brazilosaurus is an extinct genus of mesosaur which lived during the early Permian of what is now Brazil. It is known from a skeleton recovered from the Assistencia Member of the Irati Formation . It was named by T. Shikama and H...

  • Elginia
    Elginia
    Elginia was a pareiasaur; a member of a group of Late Permian parareptiles which normally grew up to .Elginia was a dwarf genus of pareiasaur, only about long, with fossils found at Elgin in Scotland. Its head was covered in spikes, with the longest pair growing out of the back of the skull. These...

  • Hylonomus
    Hylonomus
    Hylonomus was a very early reptile. It lived 312 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period.It is the earliest unquestionable reptile ....

  • Hypsognathus
    Hypsognathus
    Hypsognathus is an extinct genus of anapsid reptile from the late Triassic period of New Jersey and Connecticut.Hypsognathus resembled a moderately sized lizard, with a length of , although it was unrelated to modern lizards....

  • Labidosaurus
    Labidosaurus
    Labidosaurus is an extinct genus of anapsid reptile from the Permian period of North America. Fossils have been discovered in Texas.Labidosaurus was heavily built, resembling a lizard with a large head, and measuring about long...

  • Mesosaurus
    Mesosaurus
    Mesosaurus is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America. Along with the genus Stereosternum, it is a member of the family Mesosauridae and the order Mesosauria. Mesosaurus was one of the first marine reptiles, and had many adaptations to a fully...

  • Millerettid
    Millerettid
    The millerettids are an extinct group of anapsids that lived in South Africa during the Upper Permian. They were small insectivores and probably resembled modern lizards in appearance and lifestyle.-External links:*...

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  • Milleretta
    Milleretta
    Milleretta was a fast-moving reptile that lived in the late Permian period of South Africa, 250 million years ago. Fossils have been found at the Oberperm site....

  • Pareiasaurus
    Pareiasaurus
    Pareiasaurus is an extinct genus of anapsid reptile from the Permian period. It was a typical member of its family, the pareiasaurs, which take their name from this genus....

  • Scutosaurus
    Scutosaurus
    Scutosaurus was a genus of armor-covered pareiasaur that lived around 252-248 million years ago in Russia, in the later Permian period. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body...

  • Bolosaurid
    Bolosaurid
    Bolosaurids are an extinct family of anapsid reptiles from the Permian Period. Fossils have been found in North America, Russia and Germany. The bolosaurids were unusual for their time period by being bipedal, the oldest known tetrapods to have been so. Their teeth suggest that they were...

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  • Pareiasaur
    Pareiasaur
    The Pareiasaurs - Family Pareiasauridae - are a clade of medium-sized to large herbivorous anapsid reptiles that flourished during the Permian period....

    s
    • Bradysaurus
      Bradysaurus
      Bradysaurus was a large , early and common pareiasaur, the fossils of which are known from the richly fossiliferous Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the South African Karoo. Along with the similarly large dinocephalia, the bradysaurs constituted the herbivorous megafauna of the late Middle...

    • Scutosaurus
      Scutosaurus
      Scutosaurus was a genus of armor-covered pareiasaur that lived around 252-248 million years ago in Russia, in the later Permian period. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body...

    • Anthodon

Turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

s, tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...

s and terrapin
Terrapin
A terrapin is a turtle living in fresh or brackish water.Terrapin may also refer to:* Terrapin , a transport vehicle used for amphibious assault by the Allies during the Second World War...

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  • Archelon
    Archelon
    Archelon is a genus of extinct sea turtle, the largest that has ever been documented.-Discovery:...

  • Meiolania
    Meiolania
    Meiolania is an extinct genus of cryptodire turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene, with the last relict populations at New Caledonia which survived until 2,000 years ago....

  • Palaeotrionyx
    Palaeotrionyx
    Palaeotrionyx is an extinct genus of softshell turtle from the Paleocene epoch of western North America.Palaeotrionyx, like its modern relatives, had no scutes on its carapace, which probably had leathery, pliable skin at the sides...

  • Proganochelys
    Proganochelys
    Proganochelys quenstedti is the second oldest turtle species discovered to date, known only from fossils found in Germany and Thailand in strata from the late Triassic, dating to approximately 210 million years ago...

  • Pleurosternon
    Pleurosternon
    Pleurosternon is an extinct genus of cryptodire turtle from the late Jurassic period to the early Cretaceous period. Its type species, P. bullocki was described by the paleontologist Richard Owen in 1853...

  • Stupendemys
    Stupendemys
    Stupendemys is a prehistoric genus of freshwater turtle. Its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the late Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 6 to 5 million years ago....

  • Testudo atlas
    Testudo atlas
    Colossochelys atlas, formerly known as Testudo atlas, and originally described as Geochelone atlas, is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle from the Pleistocene period, about 2 million years ago...


Early diapsid
Diapsid
Diapsids are a group of reptiles that developed two holes in each side of their skulls, about 300 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period. Living diapsids are extremely diverse, and include all crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tuatara...

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  • Araeoscelidans
    • Petrolacosaurus
      Petrolacosaurus
      Petrolacosaurus was a small, long, reptile, and the earliest diapsid known. It lived during the late Carboniferous period, the Joggins strata where it was found are dated to 302 million years old....

    • Spinoaequalis
      Spinoaequalis
      Spinoaequalis is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile.The 30 cm long creature, known from fossils found in Kansas, USA, was one of the first diapsids, along with Petrolacosaurus. It was also the first reptile to return to the water, evolving shortly after Hylonomus, the oldest confirmed reptile...

    • Araeoscelis
      Araeoscelis
      Araeoscelis is an extinct genus of reptile, and one of the earliest diapsids. Fossils have been found in the United States, dating from the early Permian period.Araeoscelis was around long, and superficially resembled a modern lizard...

  • Avicephala
    Avicephala
    thumb|right|Artist's reconstruction of [[Coelurosauravus]]Avicephala is a possibly polyphyletic and therefore disused clade of diapsid reptiles that lived during the Late Permian and Triassic periods...

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    • Protoavis
      Protoavis
      Protoavis is a problematic taxon of archosaurian known from fragmentary remains from Late Triassic Norian stage deposits near Post, Texas. Much controversy remains over the animal, and there are many different interpretations of what Protoavis actually is...

    • Longisquama
      Longisquama
      Longisquama insignis is an extinct lizard-like reptile known only from one poorly preserved and incomplete fossil. It lived during the middle or late Triassic Period, 230-225 million years ago, in what is now Kyrgyzstan...

    • Coelurosauravus
      Coelurosauravus
      Coelurosauravus is a genus of basal diapsid reptile, with specialized wing-like structures allowing it to glide. These were rod like structures with skin stretched over them; this feature is unique to the genus....

  • Champsosaurus
    Champsosaurus
    Champsosaurus is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile belonging to the order Choristodera. It grew to about 1.50 m long....

  • Youngina
    Youngina
    Youngina is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile from the Late Permian Beaufort Group of the Karoo Red Beds of South Africa. This, and a few related forms, make up the family Younginidae, within the Order Eosuchia...

  • Thalattosaurians
    • Askeptosaurus
      Askeptosaurus
      Askeptosaurus is an extinct genus of aquatic reptile related to the thalattosaurian group. Their remains have been found in Italy and Switzerland.Askeptosaurus was a very thin, elongated creature, that probably swam like an eel...

  • Eosuchia
    Eosuchia
    Eosuchians are an extinct order of diapsid reptiles. Depending on which taxa are included the order may have ranged from the late Carboniferous to the Eocene but the consensus is that eosuchians are confined to the Permian and Triassic....

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  • Lepidosauria
    Lepidosauria
    The Lepidosauria are reptiles with overlapping scales. This subclass includes Squamata and Sphenodontidae. It is a monophyletic group and therefore contains all descendents of a common ancestor. The squamata includes snakes, lizards, tuataras, and amphisbaenia. Lepidosauria is the sister taxon...

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Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...

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  • Californosaurus
    Californosaurus
    Californosaurus perrini was an ichthyosaur, an extinct reptile, from the Lower Hosselkus Limestone of California. It has also been known as Shastasaurus perrini and Delphinosaurus perrini. It is the basal-most known true ichthyosaur...

  • Cymbospondylus
    Cymbospondylus
    Cymbospondylus was a basal early ichthyosaur that lived between the middle and later years of the Triassic period...

  • Shonisaurus
  • Ichthyosaurus
    Ichthyosaurus
    Ichthyosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic of Europe . It is among the best known ichthyosaur genera, with the Order Ichthyosauria being named after it...

  • Mixosaurus
    Mixosaurus
    Mixosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur. Fossils of Mixosaurus have been found all over the world - China, Timor, Indonesia, Italy, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Canada, Alaska, and Nevada. It was named in 1887 by George H. Baur...

  • Ophthalmosaurus
    Ophthalmosaurus
    Ophthalmosaurus is an ichthyosaur of the Middle to Late Jurassic period , named for its extremely large eyes. It had a graceful 6 metre long dolphin-shaped body, and its almost toothless jaw was well adapted for catching squid...

  • Temnodontosaurus
    Temnodontosaurus
    Temnodontosaurus was an ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic, some 198 and 185 million years ago , in Europe...

  • Eurhinosaurus
    Eurhinosaurus
    Eurhinosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic of Europe...


Plesiosaur
Plesiosaur
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...

s, placodont
Placodont
Placodonts were a group of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic period, becoming extinct at the end of the period. It is believed that they were part of Sauropterygia, the group that includes Plesiosaurs...

s, and nothosaur
Nothosaur
Nothosaurs were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles that may have lived like seals of today, catching food in water but coming ashore on rocks and beaches. They averaged about in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help...

s

  • Ceresiosaurus
    Ceresiosaurus
    Ceresiosaurus, meaning "Lizard of Ceresio" , is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile belonging to the nothosaur order...

  • Claudiosaurus
    Claudiosaurus
    Claudiosaurus is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile from the Permian period of Madagascar.Claudiosaurus was one of the first members of the Neodiapsida, a group of reptiles containing most diapsids except the primitive Araeoscelidia. It had a relatively long body and neck, reaching on overall...

  • Cryptocleidus
  • Elasmosaurus
    Elasmosaurus
    Elasmosaurus + σαυρος sauros 'lizard') is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous period , 80.5 million years ago.-Description:...

  • Henodus
    Henodus
    Henodus chelyops was a placodont of the Late Triassic period during the early Carnian age. Fossils of Henodus chelyops were found in Tübingen, Germany. It was around in length....

  • Nothosaurus
    Nothosaurus
    Nothosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 240-210 million years ago, with fossils being distributed from North Africa and Europe to China...

  • Placodus
    Placodus
    Placodus was a genus of marine reptiles, belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the middle Triassic period...

  • Placochelys
    Placochelys
    Placochelys is an extinct genus of reptile from the Triassic period of Germany.Placochelys looked remarkably similar to a sea turtle, and grew to about in length. It had a flat shell covered with knobbly plates, and a compact skull...

  • Kronosaurus
    Kronosaurus
    Kronosaurus is an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaur. It was among the largest pliosaurs, and is named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Cronus.-Discovery and species:Kronosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous Period ....

  • Lariosaurus
    Lariosaurus
    Lariosaurus is an extinct genus of nothosaur from the Triassic period of northern Italy. With a length of just , it was one of the smallest known nothosaurs...

  • Libonectes
    Libonectes
    Libonectes is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order. It is known from a single fossil specimen found in the Britton Formation of Texas, dated to the lower Turonian stage of the late Cretaceous period.The animal was very similar to the related Thalassomedon,...

  • Liopleurodon
    Liopleurodon
    Liopleurodon is a genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs. Two species of Liopleurodon lived during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic Period , while the third, L. rossicus, lived during the Late Jurassic...

  • Macroplata
    Macroplata
    Macroplata , meaning, , is an extinct genus of Early Jurassic basal plesiosaur which grew up to in length. Like other plesiosaurs, Macroplata probably lived on a diet of fish, using its sharp needle-like teeth to catch prey. Its shoulder bones were fairly large, indicating a powerful forward...

  • Muraenosaurus
    Muraenosaurus
    Muraenosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile, from the Middle Jurassic of Europe. Fossils have been found in England and France....

  • Nothosaurus
    Nothosaurus
    Nothosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 240-210 million years ago, with fossils being distributed from North Africa and Europe to China...

  • Peloneustes
    Peloneustes
    Peloneustes is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the family Pliosauridae. It is known from the Callovian aged deposits of the Oxford clay formation of England...

  • Pistosaurus
    Pistosaurus
    Pistosaurus longaevus is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile closely related to plesiosaurs. Fossils have been found in France and Germany, and date to the Middle Triassic.- Appearance :...

  • Plesiosaurus
    Plesiosaurus
    Plesiosaurus was a genus of large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the early part of the Jurassic Period, and is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England...

  • Umoonasaurus
    Umoonasaurus
    Umoonasaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur belonging to the family Leptocleididae. This genus lived approximately 115 million years ago in shallow seas covering parts of what is now Australia. It was a relatively small animal around 2.5 m long...


Snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s and lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

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  • Kuehneosaurus
    Kuehneosaurus
    Kuehneosaurus is an extinct genus of Late Triassic reptile from the United Kingdom. Measuring 72 centimetres long , it had "wings" formed from ribs which jutted out from its body by as much as 14.3 cm, connected by a membrane which allowed it to slow its descent when jumping from trees...

  • Lizard
    Lizard
    Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

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    • Megalania
      Megalania
      Megalania is a giant extinct goanna or monitor lizard. It was part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene, and appears to have disappeared around 40,000 years ago...

    • Yabeinosaurus
      Yabeinosaurus
      Yabeinosaurus is an extinct genus of basal lizard thought to be about 30 cm long. It is known from China.A 120 million year old fossil of a Yabeinosaurus was discovered in 2011, and represents the oldest fossil of a pregnant, live-bearing lizard yet discovered....

  • Mosasaurs
    • Mosasaurus
      Mosasaurus
      Mosasaurus is a genus of mosasaur, carnivorous, aquatic lizards, somewhat resembling flippered crocodiles, with elongated heavy jaws. The genus existed during the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period , around 70-65 millions years ago in the area of modern Western Europe and North America...

    • Selmasaurus
      Selmasaurus
      Selmasaurus is a genus of medium-sized plioplatecarpine mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous Mooreville Chalk Formation of western Alabama...

    • Tylosaurus
      Tylosaurus
      Tylosaurus was a mosasaur, a large, predatory marine lizard closely related to modern monitor lizards and to snakes.-Paleobiology:...

  • Snake
    Snake
    Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

    s
    • Najash
    • Haasiophis
      Haasiophis
      Haasiophis, consisting of the sole species Haasiophis terrasanctus, is an extinct genus of snakes with hind limbs. It is one of three genera of Cenomanian snakes known to have possessed hindlimbs.-Etymology:...

    • Pachyrhachis
      Pachyrhachis
      Pachyrhachis is an extinct genus of snake with well developed hind legs known from fossils discovered Ein Yabrud, near Ramallah, in the central West Bank. It is one of three genera of Cenomanian snakes with hindlimbs. Many of today's modern pythons and boas still have small bone spurs, where limbs...

    • Gigantophis
    • Titanoboa
      Titanoboa
      Titanoboa, , meaning "titanic boa," is a genus of snake that lived approximately 58 to 60 million years ago, in the Paleocene epoch, a 10-million-year period immediately following the dinosaur extinction event...


Early archosaurs
Archosauromorpha
Archosauromorpha is an infraclass of diapsid reptiles that first appeared during the late Permian and became more common during the Triassic. Included in this infraclass are the groups Rhynchosauria, Trilophosauridae, Prolacertiformes, Archosauriformes, and, tentatively, Choristodera...

  • Garjaina
    Garjaina
    Garjainia is an extinct genus of archosauromorph reptile. It was about 1.50–2 m long....

  • Trilophosaur
    Trilophosaur
    Trilophosaurs were lizard-like Triassic diapsid reptiles related to the archosaurs. The best known genus is Trilophosaurus, a herbivore up to 2.5 meters long. It had a short, unusually heavily-built skull, equipped with massive, broad flattened cheek teeth with sharp shearing surfaces for cutting...

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  • Rhynchosaur
    Rhynchosaur
    Rhynchosaurs were a group of Triassic diapsid reptiles related to the archosaurs.-Description:Rhynchosaurs were herbivores, and at times abundant , with stocky bodies and a powerful beak...

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    • Hyperodepedon
      Hyperodepedon
      Hyperodapedon is a genus of rhynchosaur from the late Triassic period . The type species of Scaphonyx , Scaphonyx fischeri that once thought to be a dinosaur, is now known to be based on dubious material and therefore should be a nomen dubium...

  • Ctenosaurids
    • Lotosaurus
      Lotosaurus
      Lotosaurus is an is an extinct genus of sail-backed poposauroid known from Hunan Province of central China.-Description:Lotosaurus is known from the holotype IVPP V 4881 , articulated well-preserved skeleton, and from the referred specimens IVPP V 48013, skull, articulated and...

  • Prolacertiformes
    Prolacertiformes
    Prolacertiformes were an order of archosauromorph reptiles that lived during the Permian and Triassic Periods...

    • Protorosaurus
      Protorosaurus
      Protorosaurus , a lizard-like reptile of the order Prolacertiformes, is the earliest known archosauromorph. It lived during the Late Permian period in Germany. In 1914, a new ceratopsian dinosaur found by Lawrence Lambe was again given the name Protorosaurus...

    • Sharovipteryx
      Sharovipteryx
      Sharovipteryx , was an early gliding reptile, from the middle-late Triassic period . Fossils have been found from the Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan along with the unusual reptile Longisquama...

    • Tanystropheus
      Tanystropheus
      Tanystropheus , was a 6 metre long reptile that dated from the Middle Triassic period. It is recognisable by its extremely elongated neck, which measured 3 metres long - longer than its body and tail combined. Despite this length, it had only ten neck vertebrae, each quite long...

  • Proterosuchids
    Proterosuchidae
    Proterosuchidae is an early, possibly paraphyletic, assemblage of basal archosauriformes whose fossils are known from the Latest Permian of Russia and the Early Triassic of southern Africa, Russia, China, Australia, and Antarctica...

    • Chasmatosuchus
      Chasmatosuchus
      Not to be confused with Chasmatosaurus.Chasmatosuchus was a large archosauriform reptile from the early Triassic period of South Africa and China. It is one of the earliest well-known archosauriforms. It was over 6 ft long and is thought to have behaved like a modern crocodile...

  • Erythrosuchids
    Erythrosuchidae
    Erythrosuchidae are a family of large basal archosauromorph carnivores that lived from the later Early Triassic to the early Middle Triassic . Their fossil remains are known so far from South Africa , the Perm region of Russia, and China...

  • 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 :...

  • Phytosaur
    Phytosaur
    Phytosaurs are an extinct group of large semi-aquatic Late Triassic archosaurs. Phytosaurs belong to the family Phytosauridae and the order Phytosauria. They were long-snouted and heavily armoured, bearing a remarkable resemblance to modern crocodiles in size, appearance, and lifestyle, an example...

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    • Centemodon
      Centemodon
      Centemodon is an extinct genus of phytosaur from the Late Triassic Period. It lived in what is now present-day North America. It is classified as a nomen dubium.-References:* in the Dinosaur On-Line Omnipedia...

    • Belodon
      Belodon
      Belodon is a genus of phytosaur, a crocodile-like reptile that lived during the Triassic. Its fossils have been found in Europe and elsewhere...

  • Ornithosuchus
    Ornithosuchus
    Ornithosuchus is an extinct genus of crurotarsan from the Late Triassic Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland...

  • Revueltosaurus
    Revueltosaurus
    Revueltosaurus is a genus of prehistoric crurotarsan from Late Triassic New Mexico and Arizona.According to William Parker, who discovered the partial skeleton, "we have pretty much erased the record of Triassic ornithischian dinosaurs from North America, Europe and worldwide, except for South...

  • Aetosaur
    Aetosaur
    Aetosaurs are an extinct order of heavily armoured, medium- to large-sized Late Triassic herbivorous archosaurs. They have small heads, upturned snouts, erect limbs, and a body covered by plate-like scutes. All aetosaurs belong to the family Stagonolepididae...

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  • Rauisuchia
    Rauisuchia
    Rauisuchia is a group of predatory and mostly large Triassic archosaurs. As a clade, Rauisuchia includes these Triassic forms and all crocodylomorphs, which are descendants of Triassic rauisuchians. The group in its traditional sense is paraphyletic, because it does not include crocodylomorph...

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    • Postosuchus
      Postosuchus
      Postosuchus, meaning "crocodile from Post ", was a basal archosaur that lived in what is now North America during the middle through to the late Triassic period...

    • Shuvosaurus
      Shuvosaurus
      Shuvosaurus is a genus of beaked reptile from the Late Triassic of Texas. It was described by Sankar Chatterjee in 1993 after it was discovered by his son Shuvo. It was initially interpreted as a Triassic member of the Cretaceous dinosaur family Ornithomimidae...

    • Teratosaurus
      Teratosaurus
      Teratosaurus was a genus of rauisuchian known from the Triassic Stubensandstein of Germany...

    • Gracilisuchus
      Gracilisuchus
      Gracilisuchus is an extinct genus of tiny crurotarsan from the Middle Triassic. It was a suchian close to the ancestry of crocodiles, and was at one time thought to be a dinosaur, but this hypothesis has since been rejected...

  • Hallopus
    Hallopus
    Hallopus was a prehistoric reptile, classified by O. C. Marsh in 1881 as a dinosaur. In fact it was probably a crocodilian or possibly a more primitive crurotarsan, and may be closely related to Junggarsuchus ....

  • Lagosuchus
    Lagosuchus
    Lagosuchus is a genus of small archosaur from the middle Triassic period. It is generally thought to be closely related to dinosaurs, as a member of the Dinosauromorpha...


Crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

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  • Dakosaurus
    Dakosaurus
    Dakosaurus is an extinct genus within the family Metriorhynchidae that lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. It was large, with teeth that were serrated and compressed lateromedially . The genus was established by Friedrich August von Quenstedt in 1856 for an isolated tooth named...

  • Deinosuchus
    Deinosuchus
    Deinosuchus is an extinct genus related to the alligator that lived 73 to 80 Ma , during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos , "terrible", and soukhos , "crocodile"...

  • Goniopholis
    Goniopholis
    Goniopholis is an extinct genus of crocodyliform that lived in North America, Europe and Asia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Being semi-aquatic it is very similar to modern crocodiles...

  • Protosuchus
    Protosuchus
    Protosuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic. The name Protosuchus means "first crocodile", and is among the earliest animals that resemble crocodilians...

  • Sarcosuchus
    Sarcosuchus
    Sarcosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of the crocodile that lived 112 million years ago. It dates from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now Africa and is one of the largest giant crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived...


Flying reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

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Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

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  • Anurognathus
    Anurognathus
    Anurognathus is a genus of small pterosaur that lived approximately 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic Period ....

  • Caulkicephalus
    Caulkicephalus
    Caulkicephalus is a genus of pterosaur, belonging to the Pterodactyloidea, from the Isle of Wight off the coast of England.Between 1995 and 2003 bone fragments of an unknown pterosaur were found at the Yaverland locality near Sandown...

  • Cearadactylus
    Cearadactylus
    Cearadactylus is an extinct genus of large, Early Cretaceous pterosaur from South America. The type species is Cearadactylus atrox, described and named in 1985 by Giuseppe Leonardi and Guido Borgomanero. The genus name refers to the Brazilian state Ceará and combines this with Greek daktylos,...

  • Coloborhynchus
    Coloborhynchus
    Coloborhynchus is a genus in the pterosaur family Ornithocheiridae, and is known from the Lower Cretaceous of England , and possibly the Aptian age of Brazil and Texas, depending on which species are included.-Description:The type specimen of Coloborhynchus is known only from a partial upper jaw...

  • Dermodactylus
    Dermodactylus
    Dermodactylus was a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA...

  • Dimorphodon
    Dimorphodon
    Dimorphodon was a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from the early Jurassic Period. It was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1859. Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth", derived from Greek δι/di meaning 'two', μορφη/morphe meaning 'shape' and οδων/odon meaning 'tooth', referring to the fact that...

  • Dsungaripterus
    Dsungaripterus
    Dsungaripterus was a genus of pterosaur, with an average wingspan of . It lived during the Early Cretaceous, in China, where the first fossil was found in the Junggar Basin.-Discovery and species:...

  • Eudimorphodon
    Eudimorphodon
    Eudimorphodon was a pterosaur that was discovered in 1973 by Mario Pandolfi near Bergamo, Italy and described the same year by Rocco Zambelli. The nearly complete skeleton was retrieved from shale deposited during the Late Triassic , making Eudimorphodon the oldest pterosaur then known...

  • Feilongus
    Feilongus
    Feilongus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatoid or ornithocheiroid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao, Liaoning, China....

  • Nurhachius
    Nurhachius
    Nurhachius was a genus of istiodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China....

  • Nyctosaurus
    Nyctosaurus
    Nyctosaurus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, the remains of which have been found in the Niobrara Formation of the mid-western United States, which, during the late Cretaceous Period, was covered in an extensive shallow sea. The genus Nyctosaurus has had numerous species referred to it,...

  • Pteranodon
    Pteranodon
    Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...

  • Pterodactylus
    Pterodactylus
    Pterodactylus is a genus of pterosaurs, whose members are popularly known as pterodactyls. It was the first to be named and identified as a flying reptile...

  • Pterodaustro
    Pterodaustro
    Pterodaustro is a genus of Cretaceous pterodactyloid pterosaur from South America, which lived 105 million years ago.-Naming:The genus was named in 1969 by José Bonaparte as an as yet undescribed nomen nudum. The first description followed in 1970, making the name valid, the type species being...

  • Quetzalcoatlus
    Quetzalcoatlus
    Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...

  • Rhamphorhynchus
    Rhamphorhynchus (animal)
    Rhamphorhynchus , "beak snout", is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic diamond-shaped vane...

  • Scaphognathus
    Scaphognathus
    Scaphognathus was a pterosaur that lived around Germany during the Late Jurassic. It had a wingspan of about one meter.-Naming:The first known Scaphognathus specimen was described in 1831 by August Goldfuss who mistook the tailless specimen for a new Pterodactylus species: P. crassirostris. The...

  • Sordes
    Sordes
    Sordes was a small basal pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Svita of Kazakhstan.The genus was named in 1971 by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov. The type species is Sordes pilosus. The genus name means "filth" or "scum" in Latin, a reference to evil spirits in local folklore...

  • Tapejara
  • Tupuxuara
    Tupuxuara
    Tupuxuara is a genus of large, crested, toothless pterodactyloid pterosaur.The genus was in 1988 named and described by Alexander Kellner and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The type species is Tupuxuara longicristatus. The genus name refers to a familiar spirit from the mythology of the Tupi...


See also

  • Animal
    Animal
    Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

  • Dinosaur
    Dinosaur
    Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

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  • List of dinosaurs
  • List of dinosaur classifications
  • Prehistoric life
  • Reptile
    Reptile
    Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

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