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Helveticosaurus
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Helveticosaurus

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Helveticosaurus is an extinct genus of diapsid marine reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian boundary) of southern Switzerland and Italy. It contains a single species, Helveticosaurus zollingeri, mainly known from a nearly complete holotype skeleton, PIMUZ T 4352. The skeleton was collected at the Cava Tre Fontane site on Monte San Giorgio, a mountain well known for its rich record of marine life during the Middle Triassic.

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Encyclopedic overview

5 sections
Contents
  • Description and paleobiology
  • Relationship with other sauropsids
  • Possible relatives
  • References
  • External links

Helveticosaurus is an extinct genus of diapsid marine reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian boundary) of southern Switzerland and Italy. It contains a single species, Helveticosaurus zollingeri, mainly known from a nearly complete holotype skeleton, PIMUZ T 4352. The skeleton was collected at the Cava Tre Fontane site on Monte San Giorgio, a mountain well known for its rich record of marine life during the Middle Triassic.

==Description and paleobiology== left|thumb|Close view of the skull Helveticosaurus is primarily known from a nearly complete holotype which includes a crushed skull and a postcranial skeleton. Several disarticulated elements are also known including teeth, portions of the snout and postcranial elements. The skeleton of Helveticosaurus preserves , but much of the tail is missing. Its total estimated length is about , from the snout to the tip of the tail.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Helveticosaurus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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