Typothorax
| Typothorax Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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| Genus: | Typothorax Cope, 1875
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Typothorax is an extinct genus of aetosaur that lived in the Late Triassic. Its remains have been found in North America.
Description
Typothorax was a classic aetosaur, a crurotarsan related to modern crocodile. Unlike modern crocodiles, however, aetosaurs were herbivorous. They possessed small, leaf-shaped teeth which were unsuited for a diet consisting of meat[1][2]. Unlike some aetosaurs like Desmatosuchus, Typothorax did not have large shoulder spikes[1][2]. Instead it had lateral scutes that bore large horns that are posteriorly hooked along its back, while its sides, and underbelly were covered with ornamented scutes. Although fossils of aetosaurs are not as common as other Triassic archosaurs, with their armor plates being the most common, Typothorax has been represented by fewer skeletal elements than other aetosaurs. Typothorax was about 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) long and weighed 100 kilograms (220 lb).
History
Typothorax was one of the earliest vertebrates named from the Triassic of western North America[3] but has been poorly understood since that naming. Paleontologists have found the characteristic armor plates for decades[4][5], but only recently has a comprehensive study of Typothorax appeared[1][2]. It has been found in Arizona, in the Chinle Formation, as well as in New Mexico and Texas in the Bull Canyon Formation of the Dockum Group.
Sources
- ^ a b c Martz, J.W. 2002. The morphology and ontogeny of Typothorax coccinarum (Archosauria, Stagonolepididae) from the Upper Triassic of the American southwest. M.S. thesis, Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 279 pp.
- ^ a b c Heckert, A. B., and Lucas, S. G. 1999. A new aetosaur (Reptilia: Archosauria) from the Upper Triassic of Texas and the phylogeny of aetosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 50-68.
- ^ Cope, E.D. 1875. The geology of New Mexico. Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Proceedings, pp. 263-267.
- ^ Case, E.C. 1922. New reptiles and stegocephalians from the Upper Triassic of western Texas. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, no. 321 (October, 1922). Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington D.C., 84 pp.
- ^ Long, R.A., and Murry P.A. 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4, 254 pp.
External links
- Typothorax in the Paleobiology Database
- Jeff Martz's Master's Thesisfrom Texas Tech University.
See Also
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