Schillerosaurus

Schillerosaurus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 155.7–145.5 Ma[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Infraorder: Scincomorpha
Genus: †Schillerosaurus
Nydam, Chure, and Evans, 2013
Type species
†Schillerosaurus utahensis
Nydam et al., 2013
Synonyms

Schilleria Evans and Chure, 1999

Schillerosaurus was a genus of prehistoric lizard of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Western North America,[1][2] and is currently the only squamate genus known to be endemic to the Morrison Formation.[2] Described based on a partial skeleton from Dinosaur National Monument by Susan Evans and Dan Chure in 1999 as Schilleria utahensis, its name was subsequently changed to Schillerosaurus due to the former name already being occupied by a modern-day arachnid subgenus.[3][4]

Other than it belonging to the infraorder scincomorpha, its further relations are unknown. It is thought to have been an insectivore like most of its modern relatives due to their morphological similarities. Possibly present in stratigraphic zone 5.[5]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference fossilworks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Foster, J. (2007). "Table 2.1: Fossil Vertebrates of the Morrison Formation." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 58-59.
  3. ^ Evans, S. E.; Chure, D. J. (1999). "Upper Jurassic lizards from the Morrison Formation of Dinosaur National Monument, Utah". In D. D. Gillette (ed.). Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah. Miscellaneous Publications of the Utah Geological Survey. Vol. 99–1. pp. 151–159.
  4. ^ Randall L. Nydam; Daniel J. Chure; Susan E. Evans (2013). "Schillerosaurus gen. nov., a replacement name for the lizard genus Schilleria Evans and Chure, 1999 a junior homonym of Schilleria Dahl, 1907" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3734 (1): 99–100. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3736.1.6.
  5. ^ Foster, J. (2007). "Enneabatrachus hechti" Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. p. 137.