Actiosaurus gaudryi

"coast lizard"

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Actiosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Actiosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (237–201 Mya)
Place
France
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Anchisauridae

Actiosaurus (meaning “coast lizard”) is an extinct genus of reptile first described by Henri Sauvage in 1883 from Antully bonebed, Autun (Triassic of France). The type species is A. gaudryi (commonly misspelled A. gaudrii after Boulenger). Little is known of it, and it is considered a nomen dubium. Actiosaurus was originally described as a dinosaur in 1883 and was reinterpreted as an ichthyosaur in 1908. Actiosaurus may instead represent the remains of a choristodere. Fischer et al. (2014) considered A. gaudryi to be a species inquirenda, and noted the similarity of its bones to the limb bones of choristoderes.

What we know

  • Named by Sauvage, 1883.
  • Fossils found in France.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Actiosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.