Teratosaurus
| Teratosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Teratosaurus suevicus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Triassic ( Norium ) | ||||||||||||
| 216.5 to 203.6 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Teratosaurus | ||||||||||||
| von Meyer , 1861 | ||||||||||||
Teratosaurus ("monster lizard") is a genus of the Rauisuchidae , a group of extinct, carnivorous archosaurs . Its fossil remains are known from deposits of the European Norium ( Upper Triassic , 216.5 to 203.6 mya ).
This bully had relatively long and strong arms. The hind legs had four toes, with Teratosaurus only walking on three toes, the fourth was reduced and did not touch the ground. It was about six meters long and reached an estimated weight of about 700 kilograms.
For a long time, Teratosaurus was considered a theropod dinosaur . This error arose because of similarities between Rauisuchi and dinosaurs.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Paleobiology Database. Last accessed November 5, 2009
further reading
- Michael J. Benton : The Late Triassic reptile Teratosaurus - a rauisuchian, not a dinosaur. In: Palaeontology. Vol. 29, No. 2, 1986, pp. 293-301, digitized version (PDF; 535.71 KB) .
Web links
Commons : Teratosaurus - collection of images, videos and audio files
