Palaeovaranus
Temporal range: Late Eocene,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: †Palaeovaranidae
Georgalis, 2017
Genus: †Palaeovaranus
Zittel, 1887
Type species
Palaeovaranus cayluxi
Zittel, 1887
Other species
  • Palaeovaranus giganteus
    (Kuhn, 1940)
Synonyms

Genus-level

  • Palaeosaurus
    Filhol, 1873 (preoccupied)
  • Necrosaurus Filhol, 1876
  • Melanosauroides Kuhn, 1940

P. cayluxi

  • Palaeosaurus cayluxi
    Filhol, 1873
  • Necrosaurus cayluxi
    Filhol, 1876

P. giganteus

  • Melanosauroides giganteus
    Kuhn, 1940
  • Melanosauroides maximus
    McDowell & Bogert, 1954 (lapsus calami)

Palaeovaranus is an extinct genus of varanoid lizards from the Late Eocene of France and Germany.[1] It contains two species, Palaeovaranus cayluxensis[2][3] and Palaeovaranus giganteus (formerly assigned to a separate genus Melanosauroides). The genus was first named by Henri Filhol in 1877, but he had named the species Palaeovaranus cayluxi earlier as Palaeosaurus cayluxi in 1873, and as Necrosaurus cuxleyi in 1876 after it was discovered that Palaeosaurus was preoccupied. However, he failed to provide any kind of valid description, which renders Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel's 1887 description of the taxon as the valid authority on its validity. Despite this, the name Necrosaurus was the widely used name in the literature afterwards until 2017, when the name Paleovaranus was revived. It is placed in the family Palaeovaranidae.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Georgalis, G.L. (2017). "Necrosaurus or Palaeovaranus? Appropriate nomenclature and taxonomic content of an enigmatic fossil lizard clade (Squamata)" (PDF). Annales de Paléontologie. 103 (4): 293–303. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2017.10.001.
  2. ↑ "†Necrosaurus cayluxi Filhol 1873 (lizard)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Squamata: Scleroglossa". Palaeos. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

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