Lystrosaurus
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Lystrosaurus (meaning 'shovel reptile', pronounced list-row-sore-uss) was a genus of Early Triassic Period therapsid which lived approximately 250 million years ago in what is now Antarctica, India and South Africa. It was a common synapsid, a group of animals ancestral to (and including) mammals, more frequently referred to as "mammal-like" reptiles. More specifically it was a dicynodont (which means "having two dog-teeth"). Lystrosaurs were medium-sized (about a meter long) herbivorous animals, approximately the size of a pig, with very stout limbs. They had two long teeth protruding from their upper jaws. Originally they were thought to be amphibious, a sort of small reptilian hippopotamus, but some more recent evidence indicates that they lived in arid environments.
Lystrosaurus is notable for dominating land during the Early Triassic, found on every continent, for millions of years. This genus survived the end-Permian mass extinction and went on to thrive, becoming the most common group of terrestrial vertebrates during the Early Triassic. It is the only time a single species of animal dominated the Earth to such a degree.<ref>Before the Dinosaurs, Discovery Channel</ref> Why Lystrosaurus survived the Permian mass extinction may possibly be due to blind chance, however, adaptations to surviving on more resiliant plant material may have contributed to this genus' survival.
Its discovery in 1969 helped advance the theory of plate tectonics.<ref>Naomi Lubick, Investigating the Antarctic, Geotimes, 2005.</ref>
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