PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Tanystropheus

Reptilia - Tanystropheidae

Taxonomy

Tanystropheus was named by von Meyer (1852) [also said to be 1855].

It was corrected as Tanystrophaeus by Huene (1902), Huene (1914).

It was assigned to Sauropterygia by Owen (1860); to Sauropterygia by Owen (1859), Owen (1861); to Goniopoda by Cope (1887); to Coeluridae by Nopcsa (1901); to Coeluridae by Zittel (1890), Huene (1902), Huene (1909), von Zittel (1911); to Podokesauridae by Huene (1914), Huene (1914), Huene (1914), Huene (1914), Huene (1914), Huene (1920); to Podokesaurinae by Nopcsa (1928); and to Tanystropheidae by Kuhn (1966), Kuhn (1971), Chatterjee (1980), Benton (1985), Chatterjee (1986), Carroll (1988), Renesto (2005), Sennikov (2011), Ezcurra (2016), Spiekman et al. (2020).

Species

Chelyzoon, Chelyzoon blezingeri, Chelyzoon latum, Nothosaurus blezingeri, Pectenosaurus strunzi, Procerosaurus cruralis, Tanystrophaeus posthumus, T. biharicus, T. conspicuus, T. haasi, T. hydroides, T. longobardicus, T. meridensis, Tribelesodon longobardicus

Species lacking formal opinion data

T. posthumus

Sister genera

Chelyzoon

Synonyms

Pectenosaurus was named by Huene (1902).

It was synonymized subjectively with Tanystropheus by Kuhn (1971).
Chelyzoon was named by Huene (1902).

It was considered a nomen dubium by Joyce (2017).

It was assigned to Cryptodira by Huene (1902); and to Testudines by Kuhn (1971).
Chelyzoon latum was named by Huene (1902).

It was considered a nomen dubium by Joyce (2017).
Chelyzoon blezingeri was named by Huene (1902).

It was considered a nomen dubium by Joyce (2017).
Nothosaurus blezingeri was named by Fraas (1896). It is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Muschelkalk-Bonebed, Crailsheim, which is in a Triassic marine horizon in Germany.

It was considered a nomen dubium by Rieppel and Wild (1996).
Tribelesodon was named by Bassani (1886). It is the type genus of Tribelesodontidae.

It was synonymized subjectively with Tanystropheus by Renesto (2005).

It was assigned to Pterosauria by Zittel (1890); and to Tribelesodontidae by Nopcsa (1928).
Macroscelosaurus was named by Münster (1852).

It was replaced with Tanystrophaeus by Owen (1860); it was synonymized subjectively with Tanystropheus by Zittel (1890), Nopcsa (1901), Kuhn (1942), Kuhn (1966).
Tanystrophaeus posthumus was named by Huene (1908). Its type specimen is SMNS 4385, a set of vertebrae (caudal vertebra), and it is a 3D body fossil.

It was recombined as Thecodontosaurus posthumus by Fraas (1913), Fraas (1914), Hennig (1914); it was considered a nomen dubium by Rauhut and Hungerbühler (2000).
Procerosaurus was named by Huene (1902).

It was synonymized subjectively with Tanystropheus by Kuhn (1971).

It was assigned to Eusuchia by Huene (1902); to Podokesauridae by Huene (1914), Huene (1920); to Podokesaurinae by Nopcsa (1928); and to Coelurosauria by Kuhn (1939).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1852	Macroscelosaurus Münster
1852	Tanystropheus von Meyer
1859	Tanystrophaeus Owen p. 146
1860	Tanystrophaeus Owen p. 220
1861	Tanystrophaeus Owen p. 238
1886	Tribelesodon Bassani p. 25
1887	Tanystrophaeus Cope p. 221
1890	Tanystropheus Zittel p. 733
1890	Tribelesodon Zittel p. 799ff
1896	Nothosaurus blezingeri Fraas p. 11
1898	Nothosaurus bletzingeri Spangenberg p. 407
1901	Tanystropheus Nopcsa p. 202
1902	Chelyzoon Huene
1902	Tanystrophaeus Huene
1902	Chelyzoon Huene p. 50
1902	Chelyzoon latum Huene p. 50
1902	Chelyzoon blezingeri Huene p. 51
1902	Procerosaurus Huene p. 64
1902	Pectenosaurus Huene p. 65
1908	Tanystrophaeus posthumus Huene
1909	Tanystropheus Huene p. 13
1911	Tanystropheus von Zittel p. 281
1913	Thecodontosaurus posthumus Fraas p. 1100
1914	Thecodontosaurus posthumus Fraas p. 130
1914	Thecodontosaurus posthumus Hennig p. 418
1914	Tanystrophaeus Huene p. 11
1914	Procerosaurus Huene p. 12
1914	Tanystrophaeus posthumus Huene p. 12
1914	Tanystrophaeus Huene p. 33
1914	Tanystropheus Huene p. 154
1920	Procerosaurus Huene p. 162
1920	Tanystrophaeus Huene p. 162
1928	Procerosaurus Nopcsa p. 183
1928	Tanystropheus Nopcsa p. 183
1928	Tribelesodon Nopcsa p. 187
1939	Procerosaurus Kuhn p. 35
1966	Tanystropheus Kuhn p. 43
1971	Chelyzoon Kuhn p. 10
1971	Chelyzoon blezingeri Kuhn p. 10
1971	Chelyzoon latum Kuhn p. 10
1971	Tanystropheus Kuhn p. 11
1971	Nothosaurus blezingeri Kuhn p. 18
1980	Tanystropheus Chatterjee p. 198
1985	Tanystropheus Benton p. 154
1986	Tanystropheus Chatterjee
1988	Tanystropheus Carroll
2005	Tanystropheus Renesto p. 378
2011	Tanystropheus Sennikov
2016	Tanystropheus Ezcurra
2020	Tanystropheus Spiekman et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha

Rank	Name	Author
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
family	Tanystropheidae	Gervais 1859
genus	Tanystropheus	von Meyer 1852

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Tanystropheus von Meyer 1852

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†Tanystropheus biharicus Jurcsák 1975

†Tanystropheus conspicuus Meyer 1855

†Tanystropheus haasi Rieppel 2001

†Tanystropheus hydroides Spiekman et al. 2020

†Tanystropheus longobardicus Bassani 1886

†Tanystropheus meridensis Wild 1980

Invalid names: Chelyzoon Huene 1902 [nomen dubium], Chelyzoon blezingeri Huene 1902 [nomen dubium], Chelyzoon latum Huene 1902 [nomen dubium], Macroscelosaurus Münster 1852 [synonym], Nothosaurus blezingeri Fraas 1896 [nomen dubium], Pectenosaurus Huene 1902 [synonym], Procerosaurus Huene 1902 [synonym], Tanystrophaeus posthumus Huene 1908 [nomen dubium], Tribelesodon Bassani 1886 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingg

Diet:

piscivoreg

Comments:

lacks "any adaptation for efficient swimming" and "did not swim but lived along the shoreline... patrolling.. in search for food" in the water g

Created:

2011-03-27 21:49:13

Modified:

2011-03-27 05:49:13

Source: g = genus, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Carroll 1988, Hendy et al. 2009, Renesto 2005

Age range: base of the Pelsonian to the top of the Rhaetian or 244.24000 to 201.40000 Ma

Collections (18 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Anisian	246.7 - 241.464	Israel	T. sp. (63924)
Anisian	246.7 - 241.464	United Kingdom (England)	T. sp. (88992)
Anisian	246.7 - 241.464	Romania (Bihor)	T. biharicus (196861)
Anisian	246.7 - 241.464	Canada (Nova Scotia)	T. sp. (227834)
Anisian - Ladinian	246.7 - 237.0	Switzerland (Kanton Tessin)	T. hydroides (220431) T. longobardicus (86837)
Middle Triassic	246.7 - 237.0	Germany (Baden-Württemberg)	Procerosaurus cruralis (187582) T. conspicuus, Nothosaurus blezingeri (39763)
Pelsonian	244.24 - 243.33	Israel	T. haasi (182566)
Illyrian	243.33 - 241.464	Italy	Tribelesodon longobardicus (149323)
Ladinian	241.464 - 237.0	Germany (Baden-Württemberg)	T. sp. (48685)
Ladinian	241.464 - 237.0	Switzerland (Ticino)	T. longobardicus (106697) T. meridensis (86841)
Longobardian	239.48 - 237.0	Germany (Baden-Württemberg)	T. sp. (101873)
Longobardian	239.48 - 237.0	China (Guizhou)	T. longobardicus (97733)
Norian	227.3 - 205.7	Germany (Baden-Wurttemberg)	T. posthumus (47785)
Rhaetian	205.7 - 201.4	Germany (Sachsen-Anhalt)	Chelyzoon sp. (139485 139489)