Cherminotus

Cherminotus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 75 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus: Cherminotus
Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984
Species:
C. longifrons
Binomial name
Cherminotus longifrons
Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984

Cherminotus is an extinct genus of monitor lizard from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type and only species, Cherminotus longifrons, was named in 1984.

Description and history

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Cherminotus longifrons was first described in 1984 from the Barun Goyot Formation. More specimens were later found in the Djadokhta Formation in localities such as Ukhaa Tolgod.[1]

Cherminotus is small for a monitor lizard and has a longer snout than its closest relative, the living Earless monitor lizard. Cherminotus is also very similar in appearance to Aiolosaurus, another monitor from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. Both monitors have a single hole in the lacrimal bone called the lacrimal foramen. Other monitors and monitor ancestors have two holes in the lacrimal, making the presence of only one hole in Cherminotus a case of evolutionary reversal.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Gao, K.; Norell, M.A. (2000). "Taxonomic composition and systematics of Late Cretaceous lizard assemblages from Ukhaa Tolgod and adjacent localities, Mongolian Gobi Desert". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 249: 1–118. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)249<0001:tcasol>2.0.co;2. hdl:2246/1596.
  2. ^ Conrad, J.L. (2008). "Phylogeny and systematics of Squamata (Reptilia) based on morphology". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 310: 1–182. doi:10.1206/310.1. hdl:2246/5915. S2CID 85271610.