Meridiosaurus

Meridiosaurus; Temporal range: Kimmeridgian; ~150–145.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Subclass:	Diapsida
Infraclass:	Archosauromorpha
(unranked):	Crurotarsi
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
(unranked):	Mesoeucrocodylia
Family:	?Pholidosauridae
Genus:	Meridiosaurus; Mones 1980
Species
	M. vallisparadisi Mones 1980 (type);

Meridiosaurus is an extinct genus of mesoeucrocodylian that is a possible member of the family Pholidosauridae.^[1] Remains have been found in the Late Jurassic Tacuarembó Formation in Tacuarembó, Uruguay.^[2] The genus was described in 1980 on the basis of a partial rostrum that included the premaxillae and most of the maxillae.^[3]^[4] The assignment to Pholidosauridae is considered doubtful by some authors, but a 2011 redescription and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the pholidosaurid classification of Meridiosaurus.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Page 135; Origins and evolution of the Antarctic biota By J. Alistair Crame, Geological Society of London, 1989. ISBN 0903317443/ISBN 9780903317443
^ Sprechmann, P.; Bossi, J.; Da Silva, J. (1981). "Cuenca del Jurásico y Cretácico del Uruguay". Comité Sudamericano del Jurásico y Cretácico. Cuencas sedimentarias del Jurásico y Cretácico de América de Sur, Buenos Aires. 1: 239–270.
^ Mones, A. (1980). "Nuevos elementos de la paleoherpetofauna del Uruguay (Crocodilia y Dinosauria)". Actas II Congreso Argentino de Paleontologia y Bioestratigrafia y I Congreso Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires. 1: 265–277.
^ Gasparini, Z.; Chiappe, L. M.; Fernandez, M. (1991). "A new Senonian peirosaurid (Crocodylomorpha) from Argentina and a synopsis of the South American Cretaceous crocodilians". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 11 (3): 316–333. doi:10.1080/02724634.1991.10011401.
^ Estes, R.; Báez, A. (1985). "Herpetofaunas of North and South America during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic: evidence for interchange?". In Stehli, F. G.; Webb, S. D. (eds.). The Great American Biotic Interchange. London and New York: Plenum Press. pp. 139–195.
^ Fortier, D., Perea, D. and Schultz, C. (2011), Redescription and phylogenetic relationships of Meridiosaurus vallisparadisi, a pholidosaurid from the Late Jurassic of Uruguay. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 163: S257–S272. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00722.x