Thalattosaurus
Encyclopedia
Thalattosaurus is an extinct genus
of marine reptile
in the family
Thalattosauridae
that lived during the Triassic
period. It includes two known species.
Thalattosaurus was a shellfish-eating reptile around 2 meters
(7 ft
) in length.
T. alexandrae. In 1993, Nicholls and Brinkman described T. borealis from fossils found at Wapiti Lake, British Columbia
.
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 marine reptile
Marine reptile
Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semi-aquatic life in a marine environment.The earliest marine reptiles arose in the Permian period during the Paleozoic era...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Thalattosauridae
Thalattosauridae
Thalattosauridae is a family of extinct marine diapsid reptiles which lived along the Pacific coast of Late Triassic North America...
that lived during the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
period. It includes two known species.
Thalattosaurus was a shellfish-eating reptile around 2 meters
Metre
The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
(7 ft
Foot (unit of length)
A foot A foot A foot (plural: feet; abbreviation or symbol: ft or ′ (the prime symbol) is a unit of length in a number of different systems including Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, English units, Imperial units, United States customary units and the units of many Continental European...
) in length.
Taxonomy
Thalattosaurus was originally described with the type speciesType 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...
T. alexandrae. In 1993, Nicholls and Brinkman described T. borealis from fossils found at Wapiti Lake, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.