Category
page 1Metoposauridae
Metoposaurus
Metoposaurus meaning "front lizard" is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyls, known from the Late Triassic of Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal. This animal was mostly aquatic, possessing small, weak limbs, sharp teeth, and a large, flat head. This highly flattened creature mainly fed on fish, which it captured with its wide jaws lined with needle-like teeth. Many Metoposaurus mass graves have been found, probably from creatures that grouped together in drying pools during drought.
Metoposauridae
Metoposauridae is an extinct family of trematosaurian temnospondyls. The family is known from the Late Triassic period. Most members are large, approximately long and could reach 3 m long. Metoposaurids can be distinguished from most other stereospondyls by the position of their eyes, placed far forward on the snout (the type genus, Metoposaurus, means 'front lizard').
Anaschisma
Anaschisma ("ripped up") is an extinct genus of large temnospondyls. These animals were part of the family called Metoposauridae, which filled the crocodile-like predatory niches in the late Triassic. It had a large skull about long, and possibly reached long. It was an ambush hunter, snapping up anything small enough to fit in its huge jaws. It was very common during the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian age) in what is now the American Southwest.
Apachesaurus
Apachesaurus is an extinct genus of metoposaurid temnospondyls from western North America.
Dutuitosaurus
Dutuitosaurus is a genus of metoposaurids, a group of temnospondyls that lived during the Late Triassic period. Dutuitosaurus was discovered in the early 1960s in Morocco and is known from the lower t5 units of the Timezgadiouine Formation exposures in the Argana Basin of the High Atlas Mountains and was first described in 1976 by French paleontologist Jean-Michel Dutuit. Material of Dutuitosaurus is currently held in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France. It was originally placed within Metoposaurus as M. ouazzoui but was subsequently placed in its own genus, Dutuit