Geiseltaliellus

Geiseltaliellus
Temporal range: Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Corytophanidae
Genus: Geiseltaliellus
Kuhn, 1944
Species

G. grisolli Augé, 2005
G. lamandini (Filhol, 1877)
G. longicaudus Kuhn, 1944 (type)
G. maarius Smith, 2009

Synonyms

Genus-level:

  • Capitolacerta Kuhn, 1944

Species-level:

  • G. louisi Augé, 1990
  • Capitolacerta dubia Kuhn, 1944

Geiseltaliellus is an extinct genus of iguanian lizards that lived in what is now western Europe during the Eocene. It belongs to the family Corytophanidae, which includes modern casquehead lizards. Many fossils are known from Germany, France, and Belgium, with the most well preserved coming from the Messel pit lagerstätte in Messel, Germany. German paleontologist Oskar Kuhn named the genus in 1944 after the Geiseltal valley where the first specimens were found, designating the type species Geiseltaliellus longicaudus. Three new species — G. louisi, G. lamandini, and G. grisolli — were named in the 1990s and 2000s on the basis of more fragmentary remains from France and Belgium, although G. louisi has since been synonymized with G. longicaudus. In 2009 the Messel pit specimens were recognized as belonging to a species distinct from that of the G. longicaudus specimens in Geiseltalt and were collectively reclassified under a new name, G. maarius.[1]

  1. ^ Smith, K.T. (2009). "Eocene lizards of the clade Geiseltaliellus from Messel and Geiseltal, Germany, and the early radiation of Iguanidae (Reptilia: Squamata)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 50 (2): 219–306. doi:10.3374/014.050.0201. S2CID 84085505.