Palaeovaranus

Palaeovaranus Temporal range: Late Eocene, 37.2–33.9 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	†Palaeovaranidae Georgalis, 2017
Genus:	†Palaeovaranus Zittel, 1887
Type species
Palaeovaranus cayluxi Zittel, 1887
Other species
Palaeovaranus giganteus (Kuhn, 1940)
Synonyms
Genus-level Palaeosaurus Filhol, 1873 (preoccupied) Necrosaurus Filhol, 1876 Melanosauroides Kuhn, 1940 P. cayluxi Palaeosaurus cayluxi Filhol, 1873 Necrosaurus cayluxi Filhol, 1876 P. giganteus Melanosauroides giganteus Kuhn, 1940 Melanosauroides maximus McDowell & Bogert, 1954 (lapsus calami)

Palaeovaranus is an extinct genus of varanoid lizards from the Late Eocene of France and Germany.^[1] It contains two species, Palaeovaranus cayluxensis^[2][3] and Palaeovaranus giganteus (formerly assigned to a separate genus Melanosauroides). The genus was first named by Henri Filhol in 1877, but he had named the species Palaeovaranus cayluxi earlier as Palaeosaurus cayluxi in 1873, and as Necrosaurus cuxleyi in 1876 after it was discovered that Palaeosaurus was preoccupied. However, he failed to provide any kind of valid description, which renders Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel's 1887 description of the taxon as the valid authority on its validity. Despite this, the name Necrosaurus was the widely used name in the literature afterwards until 2017, when the name Palaeovaranus was revived. It is placed in the family Palaeovaranidae.^[1]

Media related to Necrosaurus at Wikimedia Commons

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