Varanosaurus
Varanosaurus | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Family: | †Ophiacodontidae |
Genus: | †Varanosaurus Broili, 1904 |
Type species | |
†Varanosaurus acutirostris Broili, 1904
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Species[1] | |
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Varanosaurus ('monitor lizard') is an extinct genus of early pelycosaur synapsid that lived during the Kungurian.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Varanosaurus_NT_small.jpg/220px-Varanosaurus_NT_small.jpg)
Description[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Dimetr_incis22DB.jpg/220px-Dimetr_incis22DB.jpg)
As its name implies, Varanosaurus may have looked superficially similar to present-day monitor lizards.[citation needed]
Varanosaurus had a flattened, elongated skull and a pointed snout with a row of sharp teeth, including two pairs of conspicuous pseudocanines, implying that it was an active predator.[2]
Varanosaurus probably lived in swamps, competing with the larger Ophiacodon for food.[citation needed]
Classification[]
Below is a cladogram modified from the analysis of Benson (2012):[3]
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See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Varanosaurus". Fossilworks. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.
- ^ Benson, R.J. (2012). "Interrelationships of basal synapsids: cranial and postcranial morphological partitions suggest different topologies". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. in press (4): 601–624. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.631042.
Further reading[]
- Benes, Josef. Prehistoric Animals and Plants. Pg. 90. Artia: Prague, 1979.
- Cisuralian synapsids of North America
- Ophiacodontids
- Cisuralian synapsids
- Fossil taxa described in 1904
- Kungurian genus first appearances
- Kungurian genus extinctions
- Prehistoric synapsid genera
- Prehistoric synapsid stubs