Thalattosaurs, literally meaning “ocean lizard”, are a group of prehistoric marine reptiles living during the Triassic Period in North America and Eurasia. They bore a superficial resemblance to lizards, but the exact relationships of thalattosaurs is unclear. Paleontologists from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, described in detail a new species of thalattosaur, Concavispina biseridens, from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) Xiaowa Formation near Xinpu Village in Guanling County, Guizhou Province, China. The study published in the latest issue of Journal of Paleontology 87(2) provides important information regarding the biodiversity and the phylogenetic relationships of this group.

 

Fig.1 Holotype of Concavispina biseridens. (Image by LIU Jun)

 

Fig.2 A thalattosaur at hunting. (Image by anonymity)