Anthracosaurus
| Anthracosaurus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Cast skeleton, Milwaukee Public Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
| Clade: | Tetrapodomorpha |
| Order: | †Embolomeri |
| Family: | †Anthracosauridae Cope, 1875 |
| Genus: | †Anthracosaurus Huxley, 1863 |
| Type species | |
| †Anthracosaurus russelli Huxley, 1863 | |
| Species | |
Anthracosaurus is an extinct genus of embolomere that lived during the Late Carboniferous (around 315 million years ago) in what is now Scotland, England, and Ohio. Measuring around 10 ft (3.0 m) long, it was a large, aquatic eel-like predator. It has a robust skull about 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) in length with large teeth in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth. Anthracosaurus probably inhabited swamps, rivers and lakes. Its name is Greek for "coal lizard".