Eichstaettisaurus
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Eichstaettisaurus Temporal range: Tithonian-Albian ~150.8–109.0 Ma |
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| Type and only specimen of E. schroederi | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Clade: | Gekkonomorpha |
| Genus: |
†Eichstaettisaurus Kuhn 1958 |
| Type species | |
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Eichstaettisaurus schroederi Broili 1938 |
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| Species | |
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Eichstaettisaurus (meaning "Eichstätt lizard") is a genus of gekkonomorph lizards, closely related to geckos, from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Germany and Italy respectively. With a flattened head, a blunt snout, forward-oriented and partially symmetrical feet, and large claws, Eichstaettisaurus bears many adaptations to a climbing lifestyle approaching those of geckos. The type species, E. schroederi, is among the oldest and most complete members of the Squamata, being known by one specimen originating from the Tithonian-aged Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. A second species, E. gouldi, was described from another skeleton found in the Matese Mountains of Italy. Despite being very similar to E. schroederi, it lived much later, during the Albian epoch.
The phylogenetic history of Eichstaettisaurus has been tumultuous like that of its close relative Ardeosaurus; while early classifications generally recognized it as a gecko, a series of studies conducted by Evans and colleagues starting in 1998 found it to be much more basal, as a squamate outside the crown group. Contentions over its phylogenetic placement continued due to a dearth of skeletal data, until Simões and colleagues redescribed the skeleton of E. schroederi in 2017. While they did not recover Eichstaettisaurus or Ardeosaurus within crown-group geckoes, they did recover them as basal gekkonomorphs. This result is significant due to the evidence it provides for a second (after snakes) major group of squamates having that emerged during or before the Jurassic.
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