thecoffeeisblack: Final for Shringasaurus indicus. 247.2 million years ago, during the Middle Triass
thecoffeeisblack: Final for Shringasaurus indicus. 247.2 million years ago, during the Middle Triassic Period, Shringasaurus roamed the what would become Madhya Pradesh, India. At the time the world was very different, many of the animal groups that exist today were still forming and that resulted in some truly weird adaptations, including animals with similar traits and appearances to animals that exist today that are not closely related at all. Shringasaurus (it’s name coming from the sanskrit word “śṛṅga” for “horn” and greek for “lizard”) was a member of a group called Allokotosaurs, a group of reptiles that were related but not part of the cladistic grouping of Archosaurs, the group that includes crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and modern birds. It has also been called a stem-archosaur as it appears to be part of an earlier lineage that split before the evolution of true archosaurs. It was about 9.8 to 13.1 feet in length and was distinguished by it’s long neck and superaorbital brow horns (similar to those of some ceratopsian dinosaurs. It’s teeth indicate that it was an herbivore, possibly using it’s long neck to reach higher foliage than other competing animals. Shringasaurus indicus is the type species for it’s genus and is still being studied as of it’s very recent discovery in 2017. Who knows what it will tell us about this unique era in Earth’s history? -- source link
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