Teyujagua
Sign in to saveTeyujagua (named for Teyú Yaguá, a legendary beast from local Guaraní mythology) is an extinct genus of small, probably semi-aquatic archosauromorph reptile that lived in Brazil during the Early Triassic period. The genus contains the type and only known species, T. paradoxa. It is known from a well-preserved skull, and probably resembled a crocodile in appearance. It was an intermediary between the primitive archosauromorphs and the more advanced Archosauriformes, revealing the mosaic evolution of how the key features of the archosauriform skull were acquired. Teyujagua also provides addition
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Description
- Skull
- Discovery and Naming
- Classification
- Evolutionary significance
- Palaeoecology
- References
- External links
Teyujagua (named for Teyú Yaguá, a legendary beast from local Guaraní mythology) is an extinct genus of small, probably semi-aquatic archosauromorph reptile that lived in Brazil during the Early Triassic period. The genus contains the type and only known species, T. paradoxa. It is known from a well-preserved skull, and probably resembled a crocodile in appearance. It was an intermediary between the primitive archosauromorphs and the more advanced Archosauriformes, revealing the mosaic evolution of how the key features of the archosauriform skull were acquired. Teyujagua also provides additional support for a two-phase model of archosauriform radiation, with an initial diversification in the Permian followed by a second adaptive radiation in the Early Triassic.
==Description== Teyujagua is known only from a well preserved skull with four associated cervical vertebrae, the only known postcranial material, but it is inferred to have been a small, carnivorous quadruped that grew to a length of up to .
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Teyujagua” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.