Tanystropheus
Tanystropheus is a long necked reptillian animal that lived in the Middle Triassic period. The main feature that stands out about it is its very long neck. Fossils of it have been found in Europe, Arizona and Asia. Its habitat was probably both on land and sea.
| Tanystropheus Temporal range: Middle Triassic
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| Genus: | Tanystropheus Meyer, 1855
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Tanystropheus Media
Tanystropheus conspicuus type material Meyer 1855
Size comparison between T. 'conspicuus', T. hydroides (PIMUZ T 2793), and T. longobardicus (MSNM V 3730)
The flattened single-cusped skull of PIMUZ T 2819, a large morphotype (T. hydroides) specimen
Digital reconstruction of the braincase of PIMUZ T 2790. Basioccipital (blue), parabasisphenoid (red), and composite bone (yellow).
PIMUZ T 2793, a lower jaw and associated vertebrae of T. hydroides
Atlas-axis complex of PIMUZ T 2790
PIMUZ T 2817, a large morphotype (T. hydroides) specimen missing only the skull and a portion of the neck
Shoulder region and forearm of PIMUZ T 2817
A hind foot of PIMUZ T 2817, a mostly complete skeleton of Tanystropheus hydroides (formerly the large morphotype of T. longobardicus). The specimen was found at Val Porina, an outcrop on Monte San Giorgio preserving the late Anisian (Middle Triassic) Besano Formation. Photo taken at the Paleontological Museum of Zurich.
Cladistic analyses agree that Tanystropheus belongs within a clade or grade of basal archosauromorphs. Many studies from the 1970s to 1990s referred to long-necked basal archosauromorphs as "prolacertiforms" (namesake Prolacerta pictured)
