Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T08:06:43.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 (Reptilia: Squamata), from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Kenshu Shimada  and
Gorden L. Bell Jr.
Kenshu Shimada
Affiliation:
Environmental Science Program and Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, 2325 North Clifton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, 3000 Sternberg Drive, Hays, Kansas 67601
Gorden L. Bell Jr.
Affiliation:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60 Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 was a small (50–100 cm in length) marine lizard that has been sporadically reported from Late Cretaceous marine deposits of Germany, England, and the United States. These deposits were formed throughout the basins of the Tethys and Western Interior Seas (Diedrich, 1997; Caldwell, 1999; Caldwell and Cooper, 1999; Liggett, 2004). Coniasaurus is thus far known only from incomplete specimens. However, sufficient material exists to show that it possessed four short limbs and an elongated skull, neck, trunk, and tail, and was equipped with a specialized dentition (Caldwell and Cooper, 1999). Caldwell and Cooper (1999) inferred that Coniasaurus likely occupied a niche similar to small sauropterygians.

Type
Paleontolgical Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , May 2006 , pp. 589 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, B. A., Murry, P. A., and Osten, L. W. 1982. Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 from North America. Journal of Paleontology, 56:520–524.Google Scholar
Bell, G. L. Jr. 1993. The first record of Coniasaurus (Squamata) from South Dakota. Proceedings of South Dakota Academy of Science, 72:333.Google Scholar
Bell, G. L. Jr., and Polcyn, M. J. 1996. Distribution of the lizard, Coniasaurus, in the Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway and its paleoecological implications. Geological Society of America, Rocky Mountain Section, Abstracts with Programs, 28(4):2.Google Scholar
Caldwell, M. W. 1999. Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new species of Coniasaurus Owen, 1850 (Squamata). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19:438–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, M. W. 2000. On the aquatic squamate Dolichosaurus longicollis Owen, 1850 (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous), and the evolution of elongate necks in squamates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:720–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, M. W., and Cooper, J. 1999. Redescription, palaeobiogeography, and palaeoecology of Coniasaurus crassidens Owen, 1850 (Squamata) from the English Chalk (Cretaceous; Cenomanian). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 127:423–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, M. W., and Dal Sasso, C. 2004. Soft tissue preservation in a 95 million year old lizard: Form, function and aquatic adaptation. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:980–984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, K., Dilkes, D., and Weishampel, D. B. 1995. The dinosaurs of the Niobrara Chalk Formation (upper Cretaceous, Kansas). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15:275–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicimurri, D. J., and Bell, G. L. Jr. 1996. Vertebrate fauna of the Boquillas Formation of Brewster County, Texas: A preliminary report. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16(supplement to number 3):28A.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. A. 2004. Morphology, phylogenetic, taxonomy, and systematics of Ichthyornis and Apatornis (Aviale, Ornithurae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 286:1–179.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobban, W. A. 1951. Scaphitoid cephalopods of the Niobrara Group. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 239, 42 p.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1868. On new species of extinct reptiles. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20:181.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869. On the reptilian orders Pythonomorpha and Streptosauria. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 12:250–266.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1873. Toxochelys latiremis . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 25:10.Google Scholar
Dal Sasso, C., and Pinna, G. 1997. Aphanizocnemus libanensis n. gen. n. sp., a new dolichosaur (Reptilia: Varanoidea) from the Upper Cretaceous of Lebanon. Paleontologia Lombarda, 7:3–31.Google Scholar
Diedrich, C. 1997. Ein Dentale von Coniosaurus crassidens OWEN (Varanoidea) aus dem Ober—Cenoman von Halle/Westf. (NW—Deutschland). Geologie und Paläontologie in Westfalen, 47:43–51.Google Scholar
Diedrich, C. 1999. Erster Nachweis von Dolichosaurus longicollis OWEN (Varanoidea) aus dem Ober—Cenoman von Halle/Westf. (NW-Deutschland). Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, 1999:372–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everhart, M. J. 2001. Revisions to the biostratigraphy of the Mosasauridae (Squamata) in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk (Late Cretaceous) of Kansas. Transactions of Kansas Academy of Science, 104(1–2):56–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everhart, M. J., and Darnell, M. K. 2004. Occurrence of Ptychodus mammillaris in the Fairport Chalk Member of the Carlile Shale of Ellis County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 107:126–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everhart, M. J., and Hamm, S. A. 2005. A new nodosaur specimen (Dinosauria: Nodosauridae) from the Smoky Hill Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) of western Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 108:15–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gervais, P. 1852. Zoologie et Paleontologie Françaises (Animaux Vertébrés, first edition). Arthus Bertrand, Paris, 271 p.Google Scholar
Haber, A., and Polcyn, M. J. 2005. A new marine varanoid from the Cenomanian of the Middle East. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 84:247–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamm, S. A., and Shimada, K. 2002. The first associated tooth set of the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Scapanorhynchus raphiodon (Mitsukurinidae) from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. Transactions of Kansas Academy of Science, 105(1–2):18–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattin, D. E. 1982. Stratigraphy and depositional environment of Smoky Hill Chalk Member, Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) of the type area, western Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin, 225, 108 p.Google Scholar
Hattin, D. E., Siemers, C. T., and Stewart, G. F. 1987. Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy and depositional environments of western Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey Guidebook, series 3, 102 p.Google Scholar
Hirayama, R. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of chelonioid sea turtles. The Island Arc, 3:270–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, L. L., Ferguson, K., Polcyn, M. J., and Rennison, C. 2005a. Cretaceous δ 13C stratigraphy and the age of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 84:257–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, L. L., Polcyn, M. J., Taylor, L. H., and Ferguson, K. 2005b. Sea-surface temperatures and palaeoenvironments of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 84:269–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffman, E. G., Sageman, B. B., Kirkland, J. I., Elder, W. P., Harries, P. J., and Villamil, T. 1993. Molluscan biostratigraphy of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin, North America, p. 397–434. In Caldwell, W. G. E. and Kauffman, E. G. (eds.), Evolution of the Western Interior Basin. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 39.Google Scholar
Lee, M. S. Y., and Caldwell, M. W. 2000. Adriosaurus and the affinities of mosasaurs, dolichosaurs, and snakes. Journal of Paleontology, 74:915–937.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liggett, G. A. 2004. Discovery of a junior synonym for the Late Cretaceous genus Coniasaurus (Reptilia, Squamata). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:251–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liggett, G. A., Shimada, K., Bennett, C. S., and Schumacher, B. A. 2005. Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) reptiles from northwestern Russell County, Kansas. Paleobios, 25:9–17.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1872a. Note on Rhinosaurus . American Journal of Science, series 3, 4(20):147.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1872b. Notice of new and remarkable fossil bird. American Journal of Sciences, series 3, 4(22):344.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1876a. Notice of a new suborder of Pterosauria. American Journal of Science, series 3, 11(65):507–509.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1876b. Principal characters of American pterodactyls. American Journal of Science, series 3, 12(72):479–480.Google Scholar
Meek, F. B., and Hayden, F. V. 1862. Descriptions of new Cretaceous fossils from Nebraska Territory, collected by the expedition sent out by the government under the command of Lieut. John Mullan. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 14:21–28.Google Scholar
Obradovich, J. D. 1993. A Cretaceous time scale, p. 379–396. In Caldwell, W. G. E. and Kauffman, E. G. (eds.), Evolution of the Western Interior Basin. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 39.Google Scholar
Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien, und Gattungen der Reptilien. J. Lindauer, München, 87 p.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1850. Description of the fossil reptiles of the chalk formation, p. 378–404. In Dixon, F. (ed.), The Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex. Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, London.Google Scholar
Pierce, S. E., and Caldwell, M. W. 2004. Redescription and phylogenetic position of the Adriatic (Upper Cretaceous: Cenomanian) dolichosaur Pontosaurus lesinenis (Kornhuber, 1873). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:373–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1988. A check list of North American marine Cretaceous vertebrates including fresh water fishes. Royal Tyrrell Museum Palaeontology (Drumheller, Canada) Occasional Paper, 4:1–58.Google Scholar
Seeley, H. G. 1881. On remains of a small lizard from the Neocomian rocks of Comén, near Trieste, preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 37:52–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimada, K. 1996. Selachians from the Fort Hays Limestone Member of the Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous), Ellis County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 99:1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimada, K., Schumacher, B. A., Parkin, J. A., and Palermo, J. M. 2006. Fossil marine vertebrates from the lowermost Greenhorn Limestone (Upper Cretaceous: Middle Cenomanian) in southeastern Colorado. Journal of Paleontology Memoir, supplement 63, 45 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. G., Smith, D. G., and Funnell, B. M. 1994. Atlas of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Coastlines. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 109 p.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. D. 1990. Niobrara Formation vertebrate stratigraphy, p. 19–30. In Bennett, S. C. (ed.), Niobrara Chalk Excursion Guidebook. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History and Kansas Geological Survey, Lawrence.Google Scholar
VonLoh, J. P., and Bell, G. L. Jr. 1998. Fossil reptiles from the Late Cretaceous Greenhorn Formation (Late Cenomanian–Middle Turonian) of the Black Hills region, South Dakota. Dakoterra, 5:29–38.Google Scholar
Williams, G. D., and Stelck, C. R. 1975. Speculations on the Cretaceous palaeogeography of North America, p. 1–20. In Caldwell, W. G. E. (ed.), The Cretaceous System in the Western Interior of North America. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 13.Google Scholar