Cosesaurus

Cosesaurus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, Ladinian
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Life reconstruction of Cosesaurus aviceps
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Family: †Tanystropheidae
Genus: †Cosesaurus
Ellenberger & de Villalta 1974
Species:
†C. aviceps
Binomial name
†Cosesaurus aviceps
Ellenberger & de Villalta 1974

Cosesaurus is a genus of archosauromorph reptiles likely belonging to the family Tanystropheidae.[1] It is known from fossil imprints of a single small skeleton, MGB V1, which was found in Muschelkalk outcrops near the municipalities of Mont-ral and Alcover in Spain. These outcrops are dated to the Ladinian age of the middle Triassic about 242 to 237 million years ago. The specimen is stored at the Museu Martorell (a.k.a. the Museu Geologia de Barcelona), which is now part of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. The poor preservation and likely juvenile nature of the specimen has led to the anatomy of Cosesaurus being misidentified by several different sources. For example, Paul Ellenberger claimed that it was an ancestor to birds in the 1970s, while David Peters claimed that it was a pterosaur ancestor in 2000. Both of these claims contrast with mainstream scientific theories on the origins of either group, and other paleontologists who study the specimen are unable to find the features which Ellenberger or Peters reported to be present.[2][1] The Ellenberger and Peters hypotheses are thus considered fringe theories with questionable scientific soundness due to their low reproducibility. Mainstream hypotheses for the relations of Cosesaurus generally agree that it is a "protorosaur", specifically a tanystropheid closely related to long-necked reptiles such as Macrocnemus, Tanytrachelos, Tanystropheus, or Langobardisaurus.[3][1][4]

  1. ^ a b c Saller, Franco (15 April 2016). Anatomia, paleobiologia e filogenesi di Macrocnemus bassanii Nopcsa 1930 (Reptilia, Protorosauria) (PDF) (Doctoral Thesis). University of Bologna. pp. 1–206. doi:10.6092/unibo/amsdottorato/7449.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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