Anthracosaurus
| Anthracosaurus Temporal range: ~310 Ma
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| Life restoration of Anthracosaurus russeli | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
| Clade: | Tetrapodomorpha |
| Order: | †Embolomeri |
| Family: | †Anthracosauridae Cope, 1875 |
| Genus: | †Anthracosaurus Huxley, 1863 |
| Type species | |
| †Anthracosaurus russelli Huxley, 1863
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Anthracosaurus is an extinct genus of embolomere, a possible distant relative of reptiles that lived during the Late Carboniferous (around 310 million years ago) in what is now Scotland and England. It was a large, aquatic eel-like predator able to grow up to 3 m (10 ft) in length.[1] It has a robust skull about 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) in length with large teeth in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth.[2] Anthracosaurus probably inhabited swamps, rivers and lakes. Its name is Greek for "coal lizard".
The genus was named by Thomas Henry Huxley when James Russell, a mining surveyor, sent him the first specimens.[3]
References
- ^ Palaeocritti - a guide to prehistoric animals
- ^ Panchen, A.L. (1977). "On Anthracosaurus russelli Huxley (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia) and the family Anthracosauridae". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 279 (968): 447–512. doi:10.1098/rstb.1977.0096.
- ^ Description of Anthracosaurus Russelli, a new Labyrinthodont from the Lanarkshire Coal-field, Q.J.Geol.Soc.Lon.,v.19,
External links
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