| Mesosaurus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Holotype of Mesosaurus tenuidens (specimen MNHN 1865-77) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | †Parareptilia |
| Order: | †Mesosauria |
| Family: | †Mesosauridae |
| Genus: | †Mesosaurus Gervais, 1865[1] |
| Species: | †M. tenuidens
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| Binomial name | |
| †Mesosaurus tenuidens Gervais, 1865[1]
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| Synonyms | |
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List
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Mesosaurus (meaning "middle lizard") is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America. Along with it, the genera Brazilosaurus and Stereosternum, it is a member of the family Mesosauridae and the order Mesosauria. Mesosaurus was long thought to have been one of the first marine reptiles, although new data suggests that at least those of Uruguay inhabited a hypersaline water body, rather than a typical marine environment.[3] In any case, it had many adaptations to a fully aquatic lifestyle. It is usually considered to have been anapsid, although Friedrich von Huene considered it to be a synapsid.[4] Recent study of Mesosauridae phylogeny places the group as either the basal most clade within Parareptilia or the basal most clade within Sauropsida (with the latter being the less supported position)[5] despite the skull of Mesosaurus possessing the "Synapsid condition" of one temporal fenestra.[6][7]
- ^ a b Gervais, P. (1865). Description du Mesosaurus tenuidens. Reptile fossile de l'Afrique australe. Académie des Sciences et Lettres de Montpellier. Mémoires de la Section des Sciences 6(2):169-175
- ^ a b c Piñeiro, G.; Ferigolo, J.; Mones, A.; Núñez Demarco, P. (2021). "Mesosaur taxonomy reappraisal: are Stereosternum and Brazilosaurus valid taxa?". Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 24 (3): 205–235. doi:10.4072/rbp.2021.3.04. hdl:11336/175571. S2CID 244188443.
- ^ Piñeiro, G.; Ramos, A.; Goso, C.; Scarabino, F.; Laurin, M. (2012). "Unusual environmental conditions preserve a Permian mesosaur-bearing Konservat-Lagerstätte from Uruguay". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 57 (2): 299–318. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0113.
- ^ Huene, F. von (1940). "Osteologie und systematische Stellung von Mesosaurus". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 92: 45–58.
- ^ Laurin, Michael; Piñeiro, Graciela (2017-11-02). "A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Position of Mesosaurs, and a Surprising Phylogeny of Early Amniotes". Frontiers in Earth Science. 5: 88. Bibcode:2017FrEaS...5...88L. doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00088. hdl:20.500.12008/33548.
- ^ Piñeiro, Graciela (2008). "Los mesosaurios y otros fosiles de fines del Paleozoico". In D. Perera (ed.). Fósiles de Uruguay. DIRAC, Montevideo.
- ^ Piñeiro, G.; Ferigolo, J.; Ramos, A.; Laurin, M. (2012). "Cranial morphology of the Early Permian mesosaurid Mesosaurus tenuidens and the evolution of the lower temporal fenestration reassessed". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (5): 379–391. Bibcode:2012CRPal..11..379P. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2012.02.001.