Tanystropheus

Tanystropheus longobardicus in the Paleontological Museum in Zurich.

• Western and Central Europe
• Israel

Tanystropheus (ugs. giraffe's neck dinosaur ) was a reptile from the middle and upper Triassic and not related to the dinosaurs. It was first described by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1855. There are three types so far known:

• Tanystropheus conspicuus Meyer, 1855
• Tanystropheus longobardicus Bassani, 1886
• Tanystropheus meridensis Wild, 1980

Another name for Tanystropheus is Tribelesodon.

Features

Tanystropheus reached a body length of up to six meters, of which the neck took a three and a half meters. The head was extremely small, the mouth with small, sharp teeth occupied, which were suitable for fishing. The limbs were short and poorly ossified. The feet were quite large and may have been used while swimming as paddles. The hind limbs were about 1.7 times as long as the front.

Tanystropheus had nine to twelve cervical vertebrae, which were very long and overlapped each other. Each cervical vertebra wore down long, thin appendages that may gave starting points for a strong neck muscles. Due to the low number of vertebrae his neck was probably not very mobile, but he could because of its length, with lateral movements reach prey in a wide radius.

Way of life

The lifestyle and function of a long, not very flexible neck are still very unclear. Fossils have been found mainly in marine sediments. In a way of life in the sea also suggest the hard parts that were found in the stomach of fossil dinosaurs, including fish scales and fishing hooks of belemnites. In addition, the construction of the limbs indicates a life in the water.

Pups had a significantly shorter neck and dreispitzige teeth. Due to the Fund environment, it is likely that these were staying much longer in the country and fed on insects.

Fund history

In the 1830s in limestone in Bavaria by Georg Graf zu Münster were found hollow, rod-shaped bones, which reached a length of more than 30 cm and were described by Hermann von Meyer as vertebrae.

For nearly 100 years could not be assigned to this animal but, until September 1929, the Zurich paleontologist Bernhard Peyer had found in the bituminous shales of Monte San Giorgio in Ticino a nearly complete specimen. This discovery represented longobardicus the Tanystropheus in 1886 described by Bassani basis of some vertebrae. 2005 analyzed the Italian paleontologist Silvio Renesto a copy of Monte San Giorgio, from the still imprints of sheds, and muscles were obtained.

Some skeletal remains of a previously (due to low material Fund ) is not precisely be determined Tanystropheus you barg at construction between 1988 to 1990 Waldhaus. These remains from the Buntsandstein ( Lower Triassic ) were delivered to State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart and will be further explored there.