Hovasaurus

Taxobox
name = "Hovasaurus"
fossil_range = Late Permian


image_width =250px
image_caption = life restoration of "Hovasaurus boulei"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Eosuchia
familia = Tangasauridae
genus = "Hovasaurus"

"Hovasaurus" is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile belonging to the Order Eosuchia. It was about 50 cm (1 ft 8 in) long, and lived in what is now Madagascar.

"Hovasaurus" had adapted to an aquatic life, possessing a long (two-thirds of the total length) tail which was laterally flattened to form a fluke. Some stones have been found in the abdomen of fossil "Hovasaurus", indicating the creatures swallowed these for ballast, preventing them from floating to the surface when hunting fish. The Mesozoic plesiosaurs also did this Fact|date=May 2008.

References

D.Lambert, D.Naish and E.Wyse 2001, "Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and prehistoric life", p.77, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. ISBN 0-7513-0955-9