Phylum Chordata Order Scaled reptiles | Class Reptilia Rank Genus | |
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Similar Jucaraseps, Scaled reptiles, Bavarisaurus, Yabeinosaurus, Huehuecuetzpalli | ||
Ardeosaurus
Ardeosaurus is an extinct genus of basal lizards, known from fossils found in the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Plattenkalk of Bavaria, southern Germany.
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Ardeosaurus was originally considered to be a distant relative to modern geckos, and had a similar physical appearance, though more modern phylogenetic analysis has shown it to be a basal squamate outside the crown group of all living lizards and snakes. On the other hand, a subsequent study conducted by Simões et al. (2016) indicated that Ardeosaurus was a stem-gekkotan, corroborating its initial proposed phylogenetic placement. It was around 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, with a flattened head and large eyes. It was probably nocturnal, and had jaws specialised for feeding on insects and spiders.
Dinosaur ardeosaurus dinosaur ardeosaurus
