Pachystropheus

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Pachystropheus
Fossil range: Late Triassic

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Subclass:	Diapsida
Infraclass:	Archosauromorpha?
Order:	Choristodera?
Genus:	Pachystropheus von Huene, 1935

Species

P. rhaeticus von Huene, 1935 (type)

Pachystropheus is a genus of prehistoric reptile, probably a choristodere (champsosaur), from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of southwestern England. It was named by Friedrich von Huene in 1935; Huene described Pachystropheus as a champsosaur,^[1] but this was overlooked for decades until its redescription by Storrs and Gower in 1993. This reevalution would extend the fossil record of champsosaurs back 45 million years.^[2]

[edit] References

^ von Huene, Friedrich (1935). "Ein Rhynchocephale aus dem Rhat (Pachystropheus n. g.)" (in German). Neües Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie, Geologie und Palaontologie 74: 441-447.
^ Storrs, G.W.; and Gower, D.J. (1993). "The earliest possible choristodere (Diapsida) and gaps in the fossil record of semi-aquatic reptiles". Journal of the Geological Society 150 (6): 1103-1107. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.150.6.1103.