Saurophthirus

Saurophthirus
Temporal range:
Saurophthirus laevigatus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Siphonaptera
Family: Saurophthiridae
Ponomarenko, 1986
Genus: Saurophthirus
Ponomarenko, 1976
Type species
Saurophthirus longipes
Ponomarenko, 1976
Other species
  • S. exquisitus Gao, Shih, Rasnitsyn, and Ren, 2013
  • S. laevigatus Zhang, Shih, Rasnitsyn, and Gao, 2020

Saurophthirus is an extinct genus of giant stem-group flea, and the only member of the family Saurophthiridae. The type species, S. longipes is found in early Cretaceous strata of Baissa, Siberia. Two other species S. exquisitus and S. laevigatus are from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China.