Article: The Upper Permian reptile Adelosaurus from Durham

The Upper Permian reptile Adelosaurus from the Marl Slate of Durham, England, is redescribed and compared with contemporary genera. The study confirms Watson's (1914) conclusion that Adelosaurus is generically distinct from Protorosaurus to which it was originally referred. The skeleton seems immature, and shows a combination of primitive and derived character states. Amongst the latter, are the possession of a strong humerus with little proximal or distal expansion, and of a slender sigmoidal femur and triangular ilium, character states shared with diapsids. In the absence of the skull and ankle, however, this classification remains tentative. Adelosaurus adds a fifth, probably terrestrial, component to the Kupferschiefer/Marl Slate reptilian assemblage which currently includes a glider, Coelurosauravus, the long-necked, perhaps semi-aquatic, Protorosaurus and, from German deposits only, a parieasaur, and the enigmatic Nothosauravus.