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Dinocephalosaurus

Dinocephalosaurus is a genus of long necked, aquatic Archosaurs which lived in the Triassic seas. Its fossils are found in 244 ± 1.3 million year old rocks.[1]

Dinocephalosaurus
Dinocephalosaurus-3a.jpg
Photograph (a) of specimen LPV 30280, which contains an fetus (c) and a perleidid fish (e)
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Family: Tanystropheidae
Genus: Dinocephalosaurus
Li, 2003
Species:
D. orientalis
Binomial name
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis
Li, 2003

Didocephalosaurus means "terrible headed lizard". The first specimen found was just a skull, discovered near Xinmin in Guizhou Province, China in 2002. The second specimen found nearby, and was the head and much of the postcrainal skeleton, minus the tail. Dinocephalosaurus is the "first record of protorosaurid reptile (Order Protorosauria) from the Middle Triassic of China".[2][3]

A new specimen found in Yunnan Province, southern China, showed evidence of live births (ovoviviparity). This is the earliest known example of this in the large group of tetrapods which includes dinosaurs, crocodiles, pterosaurs and birds.[4]

Dinocephalosaurus Media

  • Location of Luoping in Yunnan, China; Panxian is located in the neighboring Guizhou, to the east

  • Map showing the location of Panxian and Luoping during the Anisian (a), with stratigraphic position of Luoping Dinocephalosaurus (b)

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    Size comparison of Dinocephalosaurus a weird Triassic reptile. Based on

  • Dinocephalosaurus BW.jpg

  • Skull of the holotype specimen IVPP V13767, with label 42-1 indicating the missing rear process of the jugal

  • Photograph (a) and interpretive drawing (b) of ZMNH M8728; note the long neck

  • Restoration of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. The skeleton in left lateral view with a silhouette of a diver for scale. Abbreviations; ect = ectopterygoid; fr = frontal; j = jugal; la = lacrimal; mx = maxilla; na = nasal; pa = parietal; pal = palatine; pm = premaxilla; po = postorbital; pof = postfrontal; prf = prefrontal; pt = pterygoid; q = quadrate; sq = squamosal; vo = vomer.

  • Dinocephalosaurus and its close relative Tanystropheus, shown here, evolved their long necks convergently

  • The terrestrial Pectodens was the closest relative of Dinocephalosaurus in the Dinocephalosauridae

  • Life reconstruction of LPV 30280, shown eating a perleidid fish and bearing an embryo

References

  1. ↑ Yanbin Wang et al 2014. The Triassic U–Pb age for the aquatic long-necked protorosaur of Guizhou, China. Geological Magazine 151 (4) (2014). p. 749–754. doi:10.1017/S001675681400003X.
  2. ↑ Li C. 2003. First record of protorosaurid reptile (Order Protorosauria) from the Middle Triassic of China". Acta Geologica Sinica 77 (4) (2010). p. 419–423. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2003.tb00122.x.
  3. ↑ Li C; Rieppel O. & LaBarbera M.C. 2004. A Triassic aquatic Protorosaur with an extremely long neck. Science 305 (5692) (2004). p. 1931. doi:10.1126/science.1100498.
  4. ↑ Rincin, Paul 2017. First live birth evidence in dinosaur relative. BBC News Science & Environment. [1]
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