Aerosaurus

Aerosaurus
Temporal range: Early Permian, 295 Ma
Life restoration of Aerosaurus wellesi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Family: Varanopidae
Subfamily: Varanodontinae
Genus: Aerosaurus
Romer, 1937
Species
  • A. greenleeorum Romer, 1937 (type)
  • A. wellesi Langston & Reisz, 1981

Aerosaurus (meaning "copper lizard") is an extinct genus within Varanopidae, a family of non-mammalian synapsids. It lived during the Early Permian in North America. The name comes from Latin aes (aeris) (combining stem: aer-) “copper” and Greek sauros “lizard,” for El Cobre Canyon (from Spanish cobre “copper”) in northern New Mexico, where the type fossil was found and the site of former copper mines.

Skull of Aerosaurus

See also

References

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