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Poposaurus
EntityQ135726· pop 17· linked from 188 articles

Poposaurus

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Also known as Lythrosuchus

Poposaurus is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian archosaur from the Late Triassic of the southwestern and eastern United States. It belongs to the clade Poposauroidea, an unusual group of Triassic pseudosuchians that includes sail-backed, beaked, and aquatic forms. Fossils have been found in Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Virginia. Except for the skull, most parts of the skeleton are known. The type species, P. gracilis, was described and named by Maurice Goldsmith Mehl in 1915. A second species, P. langstoni, was originally the type species of the genus Lythrosuchus. Since it was first des

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Poposauridae
Image
Poposaurus gracilis.jpg
Show 6 more facts
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Poposaurus
taxon name
Poposaurus
time period
Norian
start time
237000000-
end time
216000000-
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Encyclopedic overview

8 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Description
  • Classification
  • Paleobiology
  • Locomotion
  • Breathing
  • References
  • External links

Poposaurus is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian archosaur from the Late Triassic of the southwestern and eastern United States. It belongs to the clade Poposauroidea, an unusual group of Triassic pseudosuchians that includes sail-backed, beaked, and aquatic forms. Fossils have been found in Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Virginia. Except for the skull, most parts of the skeleton are known. The type species, P. gracilis, was described and named by Maurice Goldsmith Mehl in 1915. A second species, P. langstoni, was originally the type species of the genus Lythrosuchus. Since it was first described, Poposaurus has been variously classified as a dinosaur, a phytosaur, and a "rauisuchian".

Like theropod dinosaurs, Poposaurus was an obligate biped, meaning that it walked on two legs rather than four. However, as a pseudosuchian, it is more closely related to living crocodilians than to dinosaurs. Poposaurus is thought to have evolved this form of locomotion independently, possibly from early archosaurs' ability to high walk.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Poposaurus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)