Glaurung (reptile)
Glaurung is an extinct genus of weigeltisaurid reptile from the Upper Permian of Germany. The only known species is Glaurung schneideri. Originally considered a specimen of Coelurosauravus, a later study named it as a new genus after noting that it had several unique characteristics relative to other weigeltisaurids. These characteristics included a low skull, small eyes, smooth parietal and squamosal bones, and spiny jugal bones. Discovery Glaurung schneideri is known from a slab and counterslab discovered in 2002 by fossil collector Thomas Schneider. It was found in Late Permian Kupferschiefer sediments near Mansfeld, Germany. Although the original specimen remains in Schneider's private collection, there are several casts in European museums, such as MBR 3610 (stored at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin) and PIN 5392/1 (stored at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow). The specimen consists of a flattened skull as well as material from the pectoral girdle, forelimbs, vertebrae, and gliding structures (termed "patagial spurs"). Although it was originally referred to Coelurosauravus by Schaumberg, Unwin, & Brandt (2007), it was later given its own genus and species by Bulanov & Sennikov (2015). The genus is named after Glaurung, the fictional ancestor of all dragons in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth legendarium.