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Stagonolepis
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Stagonolepis

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Stagonolepis is an extinct genus of stagonolepidid aetosaur known from the Late Triassic (Carnian stage) Hassberge Formation of Germany, the Drawno Beds of Poland, and the Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. Supposed fossils from North and South America have been placed into their own genera, Calyptosuchus and Aetosauroides, respectively.

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Stagonolepididae
Image
Stagonolepis.jpg
Show 5 more facts
Commons category
Stagonolepis
taxon name
Stagonolepis
taxon rank
genus
start time
221000000-
end time
206000000-
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

3 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Species
  • References

Stagonolepis is an extinct genus of stagonolepidid aetosaur known from the Late Triassic (Carnian stage) Hassberge Formation of Germany, the Drawno Beds of Poland, and the Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. Supposed fossils from North and South America have been placed into their own genera, Calyptosuchus and Aetosauroides, respectively.

== Description == left|thumb|Restoration of S. robertsoni Stagonolepis robertsoni was about long. It was a quadrupedal animal covered in thick armoured scales that ran down the length of its body. A slow-moving browser, it would have used this heavy body armour to repel attacks from contemporary archosauriform carnivores. Stagonolepis had a very small head for its size; it was only , accounting for less than 10% of the total body length. It had no teeth in the front of its jaws, but instead had a beak-like tip that arched upwards. This would have allowed it to uproot plants in a similar manner to a modern pig. The peg-like teeth at the back of its mouth would have been suitable for chewing tough vegetation, including horsetails, ferns, and the newly evolved cycads.

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

Gallery (2)