Simosaurus Temporal range: Middle Triassic,
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Mounted skeleton of Simosaurus gaillardoti in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Nothosauroidea |
Family: | †Simosauridae Huene, 1948 |
Genus: | †Simosaurus Meyer, 1842 |
Type species | |
†Simosaurus gaillardoti Meyer, 1842
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Synonyms | |
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Simosaurus is an extinct genus of marine reptile within the superorder Sauropterygia from the Middle Triassic of central Europe. Fossils have been found in deposits in France and Germany that are roughly 230 million years old. It is usually classified as a nothosaur,[1] but has also been considered a pachypleurosaur or a more primitive form of sauropterygia.