Lesson plan
Termatosaurus
Termatosaurus ("End Lizard", due to its appearance in the End Triassic) is a potentially dubious genus of archosaur known from several tooth specimens. Its remains come from the Upper Triassic of France, England, Germany and Switzerland. Termatosaurus was once thought to have survived until the Early Jurassic, but the attributed Jurassic remains were redescribed as plesiosaur material. Two species are known of this animal: the type species, T. albertii, named by Meyer and T. Plieninger in 1844, and T. crocodilinus, by Quenstedt (1858). According to Oskar Kuhn, Termatosaurus is a plesiosaur (of the Rhomaleosauridae), while according to other sources, it is a phytosaur.
Article summary
Termatosaurus ("End Lizard", due to its appearance in the End Triassic) is a potentially dubious genus of archosaur known from several tooth specimens. Its remains come from the Upper Triassic of France, England, Germany and Switzerland. Termatosaurus was once thought to have survived until the Early Jurassic, but the attributed Jurassic remains were redescribed as plesiosaur material. Two species are known of this animal: the type species, T. albertii, named by Meyer and T. Plieninger in 1844, and T. crocodilinus, by Quenstedt (1858). According to Oskar Kuhn, Termatosaurus is a plesiosaur (of the Rhomaleosauridae), while according to other sources, it is a phytosaur.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.