Ardeosaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of lizards}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Tithonian|Tithonian|Tithonian}}

| image = Ardeosaurus 1.JPG

| image_caption = Fossil specimen

| taxon = Ardeosaurus

| authority = Meyer, 1860

| type_species = {{extinct}}Homeosaurus brevipes

| type_species_authority = Meyer, 1855

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• {{extinct}}A. brevipes (Meyer, 1855)

}}

Ardeosaurus is an extinct genus of basal lizards, known from fossils found in the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Plattenkalk of Bavaria, southern Germany. It was originally thought to have been a species of Homeosaurus.Meyer H. (1855). Briefliche Mitteilung an Prof. Bonn. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paleontologie 1855: 326–327.

File:Ardeosaurus.jpg

Ardeosaurus was originally considered to be a distant relative to modern geckos, and had a similar physical appearance. Evans and colleagues, however, showed it in 2005 to be a basal squamate outside the crown group of all living lizards and snakes.Evans, S. E., Wang, Y., & Li, C. (2005). The early Cretaceous lizard genus Yabeinosaurus from China: resolving an enigma. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 3, 319-335. A subsequent study conducted by Simões and colleagues in 2017 corroborated its initial proposed phylogenetic placement, indicating that Ardeosaurus was a stem-gekkotan.{{Cite journal|first1=T.R.|last1 = Simões |first2=M.W. | last2 = Caldwell |first3=R.L. | last3 = Nydam |first4=P. | last4 = Jiménez-Huidobro |year=2017 |title=Osteology, phylogeny, and functional morphology of two Jurassic lizard species and the early evolution of scansoriality in geckoes |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=180 |issue=1 |pages=216–241 |doi=10.1111/zoj.12487 }} It was around {{convert|20|cm|in}} long, with a flattened head and large eyes. It was probably nocturnal, and had jaws specialised for feeding on insects and spiders.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 86|isbn= 978-1-84028-152-1}}