Cricosaurus
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Cricosaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, 160–136 Ma |
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| C. suevicus skeleton | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Suborder: | †Thalattosuchia |
| Family: | †Metriorhynchidae |
| Tribe: | †Rhacheosaurini |
| Genus: |
†Cricosaurus Wagner, 1858 |
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Cricosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1858 for three skulls from the Tithonian (Late Jurassic) of Germany. The name Cricosaurus means "Ring lizard", and is derived from the Greek Cricos- ("ring") and -sauros ("lizard").
Cricosaurus was first named by Wagner in 1858, as a re-classification of a specimen he had previously described in 1852.
Several other species have since been named, including C. suevicus by Fraas in 1901 (originally as a species of Geosaurus. One former species, C. medius (named by Wagner in 1858) has since been reclassified as a junior synonym of Rhacheosaurus gracilis. Fossil specimens referrable to Cricosaurus are known from Late Jurassic deposits in England, France, Switzerland, Germany,Argentina (Vaca Muerta),Cuba, and Mexico.
The original three skulls (all assigned to different species) were poorly known, and the genus had been considered a junior synonym of Metriorhynchus, Geosaurus or Dakosaurus by different palaeontologists in the past. Some phylogenetic analysis did not support the monophyly of Cricosaurus, However, a more comprehensive analysis in 2009 showed that the species contained in Cricosaurus were valid, and furthermore that several long-snouted species formerly classified in the related genera Geosaurus, Enaliosuchus and Metriorhynchus were in fact more closely related to the original specimens of Cricosaurus, and thus were re-classified into this genus.
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