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Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 (Reptilia: Squamata), from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Kenshu Shimada  and
Gorden L. Bell Jr.
Kenshu Shimada
Affiliation:
Environmental Science Program and Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, 2325 North Clifton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, 3000 Sternberg Drive, Hays, Kansas 67601
Gorden L. Bell Jr.
Affiliation:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60 Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847,
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Extract

Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 was a small (50–100 cm in length) marine lizard that has been sporadically reported from Late Cretaceous marine deposits of Germany, England, and the United States. These deposits were formed throughout the basins of the Tethys and Western Interior Seas (Diedrich, 1997; Caldwell, 1999; Caldwell and Cooper, 1999; Liggett, 2004). Coniasaurus is thus far known only from incomplete specimens. However, sufficient material exists to show that it possessed four short limbs and an elongated skull, neck, trunk, and tail, and was equipped with a specialized dentition (Caldwell and Cooper, 1999). Caldwell and Cooper (1999) inferred that Coniasaurus likely occupied a niche similar to small sauropterygians.

Type
Paleontolgical Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , May 2006 , pp. 589 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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