Back Lystrosaurus Afrikaans سحلية المجرفة Arabic Listrosaor Breton Listrosaure Catalan Lystrosaurus Czech Lystrosaurus German Λυστρόσαυρος Greek Lystrosaurus Esperanto Lystrosaurus Spanish بیلخزندهها Persian
| Lystrosaurus | |
|---|---|
| |
| L. hedini skeletal mount from the Natural history museum of Zürich | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Lystrosauridae |
| Genus: | †Lystrosaurus Cope, 1870 |
| Species | |
Lystrosaurus (⫽ˌlɪstroʊˈsɔːrəs⫽; 'shovel lizard'; proper Greek is λίστρον lístron ‘tool for leveling or smoothing, shovel, spade, hoe’) is an extinct genus of herbivorous dicynodont therapsids from the late Permian and Early Triassic epochs (around 250 million years ago). It lived in what is now Antarctica, India, China, Mongolia, European Russia and South Africa. Four to six species are currently recognized, although from the 1930s to 1970s the number of species was thought to be much higher. They ranged in size from that of a small dog to 8 feet (2.5 meters) long.[1]
As a dicynodont, Lystrosaurus had only two teeth (a pair of tusk-like canines), and is thought to have had a horny beak that was used for biting off pieces of vegetation. Lystrosaurus was a heavily built, herbivorous animal. The structure of its shoulders and hip joints suggests that Lystrosaurus moved with a semi-sprawling gait. The forelimbs were even more robust than the hindlimbs, and the animal is thought to have been a powerful digger that nested in burrows.
Lystrosaurus survived the Permian-Triassic extinction, 252 million years ago. In the Early Triassic, they were by far the most common terrestrial vertebrates, accounting for as many as 95% of the total individuals in some fossil beds.[2] Researchers have offered various hypotheses for why Lystrosaurus survived the extinction event and thrived in the early Triassic.
- ^ Cluver, Michael Albert (1978). Fossil reptiles of the South African Karoo. The South African Museum. ISBN 9780908407583.
- ^ Damiani, R. J.; Neveling, J.; Modesto, S.P. & Yates, A.M. (2004). "Barendskraal, a diverse amniote locality from the Lystrosaurus assemblage zone, Early Triassic of South Africa". Palaeontologia Africana. 39: 53–62.