PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Mesosaurus

Mesosauridae

Taxonomy

Mesosaurus was named by Gervais (1865) [Sepkoski's age data: P Leon Sepkoski's reference number: 1066]. It is not extant.

It was assigned to Proganosauria by Seeley (1892); to Anaspida by Sepkoski (2002); and to Mesosauridae by Lydekker (1889), Gürich (1889), Stromer (1914), Huene (1941), Oelofsen and Araujo (1987), Carroll (1988), Rossmann (2000) and Karl et al. (2007).

Species

M. tenuidens (syn. M. brasiliensis, Ditrochosaurus capensis)

Synonyms

Ditrochosaurus was named by Gürich (1889). It is not extant. Its type is Ditrochosaurus capensis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Mesosaurus by Broom (1908), Stromer (1914), Rossmann and Maisch (1999) and Karl et al. (2007).

It was assigned to Mesosauridae by Gürich (1889).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1865	Mesosaurus Gervais
1889	Ditrochosaurus Gürich p. 641
1889	Mesosaurus Gürich pp. 641, 652
1889	Mesosaurus Lydekker p. 300
1892	Mesosaurus Seeley pp. 603-604
1914	Mesosaurus Stromer p. 531
1941	Mesosaurus Huene figs. Pls. VII-IX
1987	Mesosaurus Oelofsen and Araujo p. 371 fig. 2
1988	Mesosaurus Carroll
2000	Mesosaurus Rossmann p. 15
2002	Mesosaurus Sepkoski
2007	Mesosaurus Karl et al. p. 68

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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)

Rank	Name	Author
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
family	Mesosauridae
genus	Mesosaurus

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. †Mesosaurus Gervais 1865

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†Mesosaurus tenuidens Gervais 1865

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Invalid names: Ditrochosaurus capensis Gürich 1889 [synonym], Mesosaurus brasiliensis Mac Gregor 1908 [synonym]

Invalid names: Ditrochosaurus Gürich 1889 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Ontogeny:

addition of parts, modification of partsf

Environment:

coastal, marine, brackishf

Locomotion:

actively mobilef

Life habit:

amphibiousf

Diet:

piscivoref

Dispersal:

direct/internalf

Created:

2009-07-20 08:24:16

Modified:

2009-08-20 11:46:24

Source: f = family, subp = subphylum

References: Rossmann 2002, Carroll 1988

Age range: Artinskian or 290.10000 to 279.30000 Ma

Collections (24 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul)	M. tenuidens (90191)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Namibia (Karas)	M. sp. (90780) M. sp., M. tenuidens (90755)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Namibia (Erongo)	M. tenuidens (28468 28469 28470 28471)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	South Africa (Northern Cape)	Ditrochosaurus capensis (89799) M. sp. (90257) M. tenuidens (90311 90312 90345)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Brazil (Paraná)	M. brasiliensis (90341 90573) M. tenuidens (90190 90344 90423) M. tenuidens, M. brasiliensis (90323)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Brazil (Goiás)	M. tenuidens (89839)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Uruguay (Cerro Largo)	M. sp., M. brasiliensis (90863 90865)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	Brazil (São Paulo)	M. brasiliensis (90215) M. tenuidens (90193 90339)