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Information about Lystrosaurus

Lystrosaurus
Fossil range: Early Triassic

Lystrosaurus murrayi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Synapsida
Order:Therapsida
Suborder:Anomodontia
Infraorder:Dicynodontia
Family:Lystrosauridae
Genus:Lystrosaurus
Species
  • Lystrosaurus curvatus
  • Lystrosaurus declivus
  • Lystrosaurus mccaigi
  • Lystrosaurus murrayi
  • Lystrosaurus oviceps
  • Lystrosaurus platyceps
Enlarge picture
Distribution of Lystrosaurus (brown) in the Gondwana supercontinent.
Lystrosaurus (meaning 'shovel reptile', pronunciation in IPA: /ˌlɪstrɒˈsɔrəs/) was a genus of Early Triassic Period therapsids, 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", a characteristic of one sex, supposedly males). Lystrosaurs were heavily-built barrel-chested medium-sized (about a meter long) herbivorous animals, approximately the size of a pig, with very stout limbs. Their teeth had become reduced to two long tusks 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, which were becoming increasingly common as the Triassic unrolled.

Lystrosaurus is notable for dominating land during the Early Triassic, being 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. Lystrosaurus's survival of the Permian-Triassic extinction event may be due to chance alone. Alternatively, adaptations for subsisting on more resilient plant material may have contributed.

Its discovery at Coalsack Bluff in the Transantarctic Mountains by Edwin H. Colbert and his team in 1969-70 helped confirm the theory of plate tectonics and convince the last of the doubters, for Lystrosaurus had already been found in the lower Triassic of southern Africa as well as in India and China.[1]

Lystrosaurus in popular culture

Lystrosaurus played a role in the BBC television series Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs. One episode followed the journey of a group across a ravine and through a river full of the ancient crocodile relative Proterosuchus.

Notes

1. ^ Naomi Lubick, Investigating the Antarctic, Geotimes, 2005.

External links

The Early Triassic (also known as Lower Triassic, Buntsandstein, or Scythian) is the first of three epochs of the Triassic period. It spans the time between 251 ± 0.4 Ma and 245 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago).
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Synapsida *
Osborn, 1903

Orders & Suborders
  • '''Order Pelycosauria *
  • Suborder Caseasauria
  • Suborder Eupelycosauria *
  • Order Therapsida

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Therapsida *
Broom, 1905

Clades
  • Suborder Biarmosuchia *
  • Suborder Dinocephalia
  • Suborder Anomodontia *
  • Infraorder Dicynodontia
  • (unranked) Theriodontia *

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Anomodontia
Owen, 1859

Groups

Anomocephalus
Patranomodon
Venyukoviidae
Dromasauria
Dicynodontia
The Anomodontia are one of the three major groups of therapsids. They were mostly toothless herbivores.
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Dicynodontia
Owen, 1859

Clades & Genera

see "Taxonomy"
The Dicynodontia are a taxon of Therapsids or mammal-like reptiles. Dicynodonts were small to large herbivorous animals with two tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'.
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This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language.

See International Phonetic Alphabet for English for a more complete version and Pronunciation respelling for English for phonetic
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago). As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events.
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A geologic period is a subdivision of geologic time that divides an era into smaller timeframes. The equivalent term used to demarcate rock layers and the fossil record is the system; thus the rocks of the Devonian System were laid down during the Devonian Period.
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Therapsida *
Broom, 1905

Clades
  • Suborder Biarmosuchia *
  • Suborder Dinocephalia
  • Suborder Anomodontia *
  • Infraorder Dicynodontia
  • (unranked) Theriodontia *

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Synapsida *
Osborn, 1903

Orders & Suborders
  • '''Order Pelycosauria *
  • Suborder Caseasauria
  • Suborder Eupelycosauria *
  • Order Therapsida

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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Mammal-like reptiles is a term used to describe the prehistoric animals that appear to be the reptilian ancestors of mammals. The term "mammal-like reptiles" is most commonly used to describe the group Therapsida, although it can be also used more broadly to describe non-mammalian
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Dicynodontia
Owen, 1859

Clades & Genera

see "Taxonomy"
The Dicynodontia are a taxon of Therapsids or mammal-like reptiles. Dicynodonts were small to large herbivorous animals with two tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'.
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Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism known as an herbivore, consumes principally autotrophs[1] such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria.
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Sus
Linnaeus, 1758

Species

Sus barbatus
Sus bucculentus†
Sus cebifrons
Sus celebensis
Sus domestica
Sus falconeri†
Sus heureni

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Hippopotamus

Species: H. amphibius

Binomial name
Hippopotamus amphibius
Linnaeus, 1758[1]


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Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma to 251.0 ± 0.4 Ma (million years before the present; ICS 2004). It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era.
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Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) compose a mountain range in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land.
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Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere.
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Type Broadcast radio and television
Country  United Kingdom
Availability    National
International 
Founder John Reith
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Walking with Monsters (also distributed as Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters) is a three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles.
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Proterosuchus
Broom, 1903

Proterosuchus was a large Triassic reptile equivalent in size to today's Komodo Dragons. It looked somewhat similar to a primitive crocodile, and shared many of their modern features while retaining several of its own
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