Bradysaurus
Bradysaurus | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skeleton reconstruction of Bradysaurus baini in the Natural History Museum Vienna |
||||||||||||
Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
Capitanium to Wuchiapingium ( Middle Perm ) | ||||||||||||
265 to 260.5 million years | ||||||||||||
Locations | ||||||||||||
Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Bradysaurus | ||||||||||||
Watson , 1914 | ||||||||||||
species | ||||||||||||
|
Bradysaurus was a herbivorous reptile . Its fossils were discovered inrocksthat are around 265 to 260.5 million years old in South Africa .
The body length of Bradysaurus is about 2.5 m, its skull measures about half a meter. He moved quadruped (four-legged). Like other Pareiasaurids , the animal was stocky and muscular and had a relatively short tail compared to its entire body length. Its jaw shows the teeth typical of the herbivores of the time .
Bradysaurus lived as a herbivorous Pareiasauridae on shrubs and ferns. He lived in flocks for mutual protection. This enabled him to defend himself better against potential predators such as gorgonopsids or other carnivorous theriodontia .
Within the genus Bradysaurus , two species are known with Bradysaurus baini and Bradysaurus seeleyi .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c David MS Watson : On the Nomenclature of the South-African Pariasaurians. In: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 8, Vol. 14, No. 79, Article 15, 1914, ISSN 0374-5481 , pp. 98-102, doi : 10.1080 / 00222931408693549 , digitized .
- ^ Sidney H. Haughton, Lieuwe D. Boonstra: Pareiasaurian Studies. Part I. - An Attempt at a Classification of the Pareiasauria based on Skull Features. In: Annals of the South African Museum. Vol. 28, No. 1, 1929, ISSN 0303-2515 , pp. 79-87, digitized .
Web links
- Bradysaurus on www.palaeos.com
- Bradysaurus in the Encyclopædia Britannica