Dinocephalosaurus

Dinocephalosaurus
Dinocephalosaurus : Above and center photographs and drawings of fossil remains, below a reconstruction of life
Temporal occurrence
Anisium (Middle Triassic)
Locations
Guizhou (China)
Systematics
Sauropsida Archosauromorpha Prolacertiformes Tanystropheidae Dinocephalosaurus
Scientific name
Dinocephalosaurus
Li , 2003

Dinocephalosaurus is an extinct reptile whose fossil remains were first found in southern China in 2002 .

Chronological order

The age of the fossils was set at around 245 million years. Representatives of this group swam through the seas of what is now southern China in the Middle Triassic .

Appearance

They had an exceptionally long neck with 25 vertebrae .

findings

The fossil of a mother with an embryo was found, from which the researchers could deduce that Dinocephalosaurus gave birth to its young while it was previously assumed that all representatives of the so-called Archosauromorpha laid eggs . Further analyzes suggest that the sex of the offspring was genetically determined and not, as is the case with today's crocodiles, determined by the ambient temperature in the nest.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Li Chun: First Record of Protorosaurid Reptile (Order Protorosauria) from the Middle Triassic of China. Acta Geologica Sinica. Vol. 77, No. 4, 2003, pp. 419-423, doi: 10.1111 / j.1755-6724.2003.tb00122.x
2. ↑ Jun Liu, Chris L. Organ, Michael J. Benton, Matthew C. Brandley, Jonathan C. Aitchison: Live birth in an archosauromorphic reptile. Nature Communications. Vol. 8, item no. 14445, 2017, doi: 10.1038 / ncomms14445