Apatomerus
Name:
Apatomerus
(Deceptive femur).
Phonetic: A-pat-oh-meh-rus.
Named By: Samuel Wendell Williston - 1903.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria?
Species: A. mirus (type).
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: USA, Kansas - Kiowa Shale.
Time period: Albian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single bone.
When it comes to naming prehistoric animals, the names can be confusing, but Apatomerus, which means 'deceptive femur’ was spot on. Initially thought to a thigh of a crocodile, Williston later declared it to be a pterosaur bone. Later study has now deduced that it is probably not a pterosaur bone and is possibly from a plesiosaur.
Further reading
- On the osteology of Nyctosaurus (Nyctodactylus),
with notes on
American pterosaurs. - Field Columbian Museum Publications, Geological
Series 2:125-163. - S. W. Williston - 1903.
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