Tanytrachelos ahynis Olsen, 1979
Systematics: Archosauromorpha Tanystropheidae
Size: 20 cm long
Type Horizon and Locality: Late Triassic, Upper Member, Cow Branch Formation (Norian) Rockingham County, North Carolina, US
Type Specimen: YPM 7496, an articulated skeleton
This small lizard-like creature from the Late Triassic of North America, was an archosauromorph related to the large long-necked European Tanystropheus. It is known from abundant fossils of articulated specimens and was probably responsible of the many trackways (the trace fossils known as Gwyneddichnium majore) of a quadrupedal animal that scurried near the Late Triassic lakes of North America.
September 6, 2021
References:
Olsen, P. E. (1979). A new aquatic eosuchian from the Newark supergroup (Late Triassic-Early Jurassic) of North Carolina and Virginia. Postilla. 176. pp 1-14.
Lucas, S. G., Szajna, M. J., Lockley, M. G., Fillmore, D. L., Simpson, E. L., Klein, H. E. N. D. R. I. K., ... & Hartline, B. W. (2014). The middle-late Triassic tetrapod footprint ichnogenus Gwyneddichnium. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 62, 135-156.
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