Nothosaurus

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title: "Nothosaurus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["triassic-reptiles-of-asia", "triassic-reptiles-of-europe", "nothosaurs", "triassic-sauropterygians", "triassic-reptiles-of-africa", "early-triassic-first-appearances", "olenekian-genera", "anisian-genera", "ladinian-genera", "carnian-genera", "norian-genus-extinctions", "sauropterygian-genera", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1834"] description: "Extinct genus of reptiles" topic_path: "general/triassic-reptiles-of-asia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothosaurus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of reptiles ::

|fossil_range = Middle to Late Triassic |image = Skeleton Nothosauria naturkundemuseum Berlin.jpg |image_upright = 1.15 |image_caption = Nothosaurus marchicus skeleton restoration in Berlin |parent_authority = Nopcsa, 1923 |taxon = Nothosaurus |authority = Münster, 1834 |type_species = Nothosaurus mirabilis |type_species_authority = Münster, 1834 |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision =

• N. cristatus Hinz, Matzke & Pfretzschner, 2019
• N. cymatosauroides Sanz, 1983
• N. edingerae Schultze, 1970
• N. fortihumeralis Li et al., 2026
• N. giganteus Münster, 1834
• N. haasi Rieppel et al., 1997
• N. jagisteus Rieppel, 2001
• N. luopingensis Shang et al. 2022
• N. marchicus Koken, 1893
• N. mirabilis Münster, 1834 (type)
• N. tchernovi Haas, 1980
• N. yangjuanensis Jiang et al., 2006
• N. zhangi Liu et al., 2014 | synonyms = |title=Genus synonymy |Conchiosaurus Meyer, 1834 |Chondriosaurus Meyer, 1838 |Dracosaurus Agassiz, 1846 |Elmosaurus Huene, 1957 |Kolposaurus Skuphos, 1893 |Menodon Meyer, 1838 |Oligolycus Fristch, 1894 |Opeosaurus Meyer, 1847 |Paranothosaurus Peyer, 1939 |Shingyisaurus Young, 1965 |title=Species synonymy |Elmosaurus lelmensis Huene, 1957 |Nothosaurus blezingeri Fraas, 1896 |Nothosaurus schimperi Meyer, 1834 |Nothosaurus angustidens Meyer, 1844 |Shingyisaurus unexpectus Young, 1965

'*Synonyms of *N. giganteus''''': |Nothosaurus andriani Meyer, 1839 |Nothosaurus angustifronis Meyer, 1844 |Nothosaurus aduncidens Meyer, 1853 |Nothosaurus baruthicus Geissler, 1895 |Nothosaurus chelydrops Fraas, 1896 |Paranothosaurus amsleri Peyer, 1939

'*Synonyms of *N. marchicus''''': |Conchiosaurus clavatus Meyer, 1834 |Nothosaurus crassus Schroeder, 1914 |Nothosaurus friedericanus Jaekel, 1911 |Nothosaurus oldenburgi Schröder, 1914 |Nothosaurus procerus Schröder, 1914 |Nothosaurus raabi Schröder, 1914 |Nothosaurus schroderi Huene, 1944 |Nothosaurus venustus Münster, 1834 |Nothosaurus winterswijkensis Albers and Rieppel, 2003

'Synonyms of N. mirabilis''''': |Dracosaurus bronni Giebel, 1847 |Ichthyosaurus lunevillensis Alberti, 1837 |Nothosaurus bergeri Meyer, 1834 |Nothosaurus muensteri Meyer, 1839 '*Synonyms of *N. yangjuanensis ''''': |Nothosaurus rostellatus Shang, 2006

Nothosaurus ('false lizard', from the Ancient Greek and ) is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 245–228 million years ago, with fossils being distributed throughout the former Tethys Ocean, from North Africa and Europe to China. It is the best known member of the nothosaur order.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Nothosaurus_mirabilis_01.jpg" caption="''Nothosaurus mirabilis''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Nothosaurus_BW.jpg" caption="Life restoration"] ::

Nothosaurus was a semi-oceanic animal which most likely had a lifestyle similar to that of today's seals. It was about 4 m, with long, webbed toes and possibly a fin on its tail. However, some species such as N. zhangi and N. giganteus were larger, up to 5 -. When swimming, Nothosaurus would use its tail, legs, and webbed feet to propel and steer it through the water. The skull was broad and flat, with long jaws, lined with needle teeth, it probably caught fish and other marine creatures. Trackways attributed, partly by process of elimination, to a nothosaur that was reported from Yunnan, China in June 2014, were interpreted as the paddle impressions left as the animals dug into soft seabed with rowing motions of their paddles, churning up hidden benthic creatures that they snapped up. Once caught, few animals would be able to shake themselves free from the mouth of Nothosaurus. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Nothosaurus_Size_2.svg" caption="Size estimation of ''N. mirabilis''"] ::

In many respects its body structure resembled that of the much later plesiosaurs, but it was not as well adapted to an aquatic environment. It is thought that one branch of the nothosaurs may have evolved into pliosaurs such as Liopleurodon, a short-necked plesiosaur that grew up to 6.4 m, and the long-necked Cryptoclidus, a fish eater with a neck as long as 1.3 m.

Species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Nothosaurus_jagisteus.JPG" caption="''Nothosaurus jagisteus''"] ::

There are nearly a dozen known species of Nothosaurus. The type species is N. mirabilis, named in 1834 from the Germanic Muschelkalk. Other species include N. giganteus (previously known as Paranothosaurus) from Osnabrück, Germany; N. juvenilis, also from Germany; N. edingerae from the Upper Muschelkalk and Lower Keuper; N. haasi and N. tchernovi from Makhtesh Ramon, Israel; N. cymatosauroides from the Spanish Muschelkalk; N. jagisteus from the Upper Muschelkalk of Hohenlohe, Germany; and N. youngi, N. yangjuanensis (and its junior synonym N. rostellatus) and the recently named N. zhangi from Guizhou, China. (and its junior synonym

Klein and Albers (2009) conducted a phylogenetic analysis, but did not test the monophyly of Nothosaurus, as other nothosaurids were not included in their analysis.

|label1=Nothosaurus |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=N. edingerae |2={{clade |1=N. giganteus |2=N. mirabilis |3={{clade |1=N. haasi |2=N. tchernovi}} |4=N. jagisteus}} |3=N. marchicus |4=N. winterswijkensis |5=N. youngi |6=N. yangiuanensis}} |2=N. juvenilis |3=N. winkelhorsti

Several other species have been named but are now generally considered invalid. One such species, N. procerus, is now considered a junior subjective synonym of N. marchicus. Other species now considered junior synonyms of N. marchicus include N. crassus, N. oldenburgi, N. raabi, N. schroderi, N. venustus and the recently named N. winterswijkensis. Junior synonyms of N. giganteus, the second largest Nothosaurus species, include N. andriani, N. angustifronis, N. aduncidens, N. baruthicus and N. chelydrops.

A species level phylogenetic analysis of Nothosauridae was performed by Liu et al. (2014), and included all known valid species of the family and Nothosaurus apart from Lariosaurus stensioi (type of Micronothosaurus), Nothosaurus cymatosauroides, and Ceresiosaurus lanzi. Due to the inclusion of other nothosaurids other than Nothosaurus, the monophyly of Nothosaurus was tested for the first time. The analysis found both Lariosaurus and Nothosaurus to be polyphyletic in regard to each other and all the other genera of the family, making a systematic revision of these two genera necessary. Below, their results are shown with type species of named nothosaurid genera noted. Later, in 2017, the species N. juvenilis, N. youngi, and N. winkelhorsti were formally moved to Lariosaurus.

|1={{clade |1=Pachypleurosauria |label2=Nothosauria |2={{clade |1=Simosaurus gaillardoti |label2=Nothosauridae |2={{clade |1=Germanosaurus latissimus (type of Germanosaurus) |2=N. zhangi |3=N. haasi |4=N. edingerae |5={{clade |1={{clade |1=N. jagisteus |2={{clade |1=N. mirabilis (type of Nothosaurus) |2=N. tchernovi}} }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=N. marchicus |2=N. yangiuanensis}} |2={{clade |1=N. giganteus |2={{clade |1=N. juvenilis |2={{clade |1=Lariosaurus hongguoensis |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Lariosaurus buzzii (type of Silvestrosaurus) |2=N. winkelhorsti}} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Lariosaurus xingyiensis |2=N. youngi}} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Lariosaurus calcagnii (type of Ceresiosaurus) |2=Lariosaurus valceresii}} |2={{clade |1=Lariosaurus balsami (type of Lariosaurus) |2=Lariosaurus curionii }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

References

• Parker, Steve. Dinosaurus: the complete guide to dinosaurs. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 384

General references

• Dixon, Dougal (2006). The Complete Book of Dinosaurs. Hermes House.
• Haines, Tim, and Paul Chambers. The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. Pg. 64. Canada: Firefly Books Ltd., 2006

References

1. (1999). "The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals". Marshall Editions.
2. (27 November 2014). "A gigantic nothosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of SW China and its implications for the Triassic biotic recovery". Scientific Reports.
3. [http://www.livescience.com/46244-marine-reptiles-rowed.html (LiveScience) Tia Ghose, "Ancient long-necked 'sea monsters' rowed their way to prey", reporting the scientific article published in ''Nature Communications'' 11 June 2014: accessed 28 November 2014.]
4. Diedrich, C.. (2009). "The vertebrates of the Anisian/Ladinian boundary (Middle Triassic) from Bissendorf (NW Germany) and their contribution to the anatomy, palaeoecology, and palaeobiogeography of the Germanic Basin reptiles". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
5. Rieppel, O.. (1994). "The status of the sauropterygian reptile ''Nothosaurus juvenilis'' from the Middle Triassic of Germany". Palaeontology.
6. Rieppel, O.. (1994). "''Nothosaurus edingerae'' Schultze, 1970: diagnosis of the species and comments on its stratigraphical occurrence". Stuttgarter Beiträge für Naturkunde, Serie B.
7. Rieppel, O.. (1997). "Speciation along rifting continental margins: a new Nothosaur from the Negev (Israël)". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série IIA.
8. Rieppel, O.. (1999). "Sauropterygia from the Middle Triassic of Makhtesh Ramon, Negev, Israel". Fieldiana.
9. Rieppel, O.. (1998). "Fossil reptiles from the Spanish Muschelkalk (mont-ral and alcover, province Tarragona)". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology.
10. Shang, Q.-H.. (2007). "New information on the dentition and tooth replacement of ''Nothosaurus'' (Reptilia: Sauropterygia)". [[Palaeoworld]].
11. Li, J.. (2004). "A new nothosaur from Middle Triassic of Guizhou, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica.
12. Jiang, W.. (2006). "''Nothosaurus yangjuanensis'' n. sp. (Reptilia, Sauropterygia, Nothosauridae) from the middle Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Guizhou, southwestern China". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte.
13. Shang, Q.-H.. (2006). "A new species of Nothosaurus from the early Middle Triassic of Guizhou，China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica.
14. Albers, P. C. H.. (2005). "A new specimen of ''Nothosaurus marchicus'' with features that relate the taxon to ''Nothosaurus winterswijkensis''". Vertebrate Palaeontology.
15. Brignon, A.. (2021). "L'histoire de la paléontologie des vertébrés dans le Trias alsacien jusqu'au début du XXe siècle". Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire naturelle et d'Ethnographie de Colmar.
16. Klein, N.. (2009). "A new species of the sauropsid reptile ''Nothosaurus'' from the Lower Muschelkalk of the western Germanic Basin, Winterswijk, The Netherlands". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
17. Schroder, H.. (1914). "Wirbeltiere der Riidersdorfer Trias". Abhandlungen der Preussischen Geologischen Landesanstalt.
18. Rieppel, O.. (1996). "A revision of the genus ''Nothosaurus'' (Reptilia. Sauropterygia) from the Germanic Triassic with comments on the status of ''Conchiosaurus clavatus''". Fieldiana.
19. Albers, P.C.H.. (August 2011). "New Nothosaurus skulls from the Lower Muschelkalk of the western Lower Saxony Basin (Winterswijk, the Netherlands) shed new light on the status of ''Nothosaurus winterswijkensis''". Netherlands Journal of Geosciences.
20. (2014). "A gigantic nothosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of SW China and its implication for the Triassic biotic recovery". Scientific Reports.
21. (2017). "A new specimen of ''Lariosaurus xingyiensis'' (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Ladinian (Middle Triassic) Zhuganpo Member, Falang Formation, Guizhou, China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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