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Weigeltisaurus

Weigeltisaurus is an extinct genus of weigeltisaurid reptile from the Late Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany and Marl Slate of England. It has a single species, originally named as Palaechamaeleo jaekeli in 1930 and later assigned the name Weigeltisaurus jaekeli in 1939, when it was revealed that Palaeochamaeleo was a preoccupied name. A 1987 review by Evans and Haubold later lumped Weigeltisaurus jaekeli under Coelurosauravus as a second species of that genus. A 2015 reassessment of skull morphology study substantiated the validity of Weigeltisaurus and subsequent authors have used this genus. Like other weigeltisaurids, it possessed long rod-like bones that radiated from the trunk that were likely used to support membranes used for gliding, similar to extant Draco lizards.

History of discovery
The first remains of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli were described by Johannes Weigelt in 1930 from a specimen (SSWG 113/7) found in the Kupferschiefer near the town of Eisleben in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The specimen was purchased from a fossil dealer in 1913 by Otto Jaekel. Jaekel had considered the bony rods to be caudal fin spines of the coelacanth Coelacanthus granulatus that was also known from the Kupferschiefer, and so the rods were prepared away to expose the skeleton. Johannes Weigelt named the new species Palaeochamaeleo jaekeli both in honour of Jaekel and in reference to the similarity of the skull morphology to those of chameleons. The same year, Friedrich von Huene noted the similarity of the specimen to Coelurosauravus elivensis from Madagascar, which had been described by Jean Piveteau in 1926, and concluded that both animals were closely related and represented climbing reptiles. In 1939, Oskar Kuhn noted that Palaeochamaeleo had already been used in a different publication in 1903, and proposed the new genus name Weigeltisaurus in honour of Weigelt. In publications in 1976 and 1986, Günther Schaumberg described additional specimens of Weigeltisaurus from the Kupferschiefer of Germany. Due to the fact that the bony rods were also present on these skeletons, and the fact that the rods were only superficially similar to coelacanth spines, Schaumberg (1976) argued that they represented parts of the animals skeleton and were used for gliding flight, stating that the presence of the bones "...virtually provokes the attempt to explain its function for flight characteristics.". In 1979, a specimen (TWCMS B5937.1) was described from Eppleton Quarry near Hetton-le-Hole, in Tyne and Wear in Northern England, in sediments that are part of the Marl Slate, a unit equivalent to the Kupferschiefer. List of specimens • Greifswald specimen (SSWG 113/7): Holotype of Palaeochamaeleo/Weigeltisaurus/Coelurosauravus jaekeli (Weigelt, 1930). A partial skeleton including a well-preserved skull, vertebrae, limbs, and gliding structures. • GM 1462: Holotype of Gracilisaurus ottoi (Weigelt, 1930). A partial skeleton including a forelimb, neck vertebrae, skull fragments, and gliding structures. • Wolfsberg & Cornberg specimens: Privately owned specimens described by Schaumberg (1976). • Eppleton specimen (TWCMS B.5937 1&2): A well-preserved partial skeleton including the torso, hindlimbs, part of the tail, and gliding structures all in articulation. The only Coelurosauravus specimen known from England, specifically the Marl Slate near Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear. First described in Nature by Pettigrew (1979). • Bodental specimen: A privately owned specimen described by Schaumberg (1986). • Ellrich specimen (SMNK 2882 PAL): A well-preserved and fully articulated complete skeleton first described in Science magazine by Frey, Sues, & Munk (1997). == Description ==
Description
The skull of Weigeltisaurus is around long. == Paleobiology ==
Paleobiology
Like other weigeltisaurs, Weigeltisaurus is thought to have been an arboreal (tree-dwelling) insectivore. Gliding The gliding membrane of weigeltisaurids is distinct from those of other gliding reptiles, which originate from modified ribs originating from the upper-lateral surface of the body. In contrast, in weigeltisaurids, the rods originate from the lower-lateral surface of the body. The furling and unfurling of the gliding membrane were likely controlled by the abdominal muscles. In a 2011 study comparing Coelurosauravus and other extinct gliding reptiles to modern Draco species, Coelurosauravus was found to be a less efficient glider due to its larger body size, with a steep descent angle of over 45 degrees and a consequent substantial drop in height per glide. A later 2025 study found that the body mass of Coelurosauravus had been overestimated and that it would have been a relatively efficient glider. == Paleoenvironment ==
Paleoenvironment
The Kupferschiefer and the equivalent Marl Slate is a marine unit that forms part of the Zechstein, a sequence of rocks formed on the edge of the Zechstein Sea, a large inland shallow sea that existed in Northern Europe during the Late Permian. The environment at the time of deposition is considered to have been semi-arid. The terrestrial flora of the Zechstein is dominated by conifers, with seed ferns also being common, while taeniopterids, ginkgophytes and sphenophytes are rare. Other terrestrial vertebrates found in the Kupfershiefer and lower Zechstein include the fellow weigeltisaurid Glaurung, the early archosauromorph Protorosaurus, the pareiasaur Parasaurus, the cynodont Procynosuchus, and indeterminate captorhinids, dicynodonts and dissorophid temnospondyls. == References ==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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