Labidosaurus
Name:
Labidosaurus
(Lipped lizard).
Phonetic: Lab-e-doe-sore-us.
Named By: Edward Drinker Cope - 1896.
Synonyms: Pariotichus hamatus,
Labidosaurus broili.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Captorhinida, Captorhinidae.
Species: L. hamatus (type).
Diet: Ominvore?
Size: Between 75-90 centimetres long.
Known locations: USA, Oklahoma - Hennessey
Formation. Texas - Arroyo Formation, Upper Vale Formation,
Waggoner Ranch Formation.
Time period: Artinskian to Kungurian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.
Labidosaurus
is a genus of captorhinid reptile that lived in the USA in the last
half of the early Permian. The upper jaw of Labidosaurus
had a
pronounced downwards hook that would have fitted around the end of the
lower jaw, and unlike previously known captorhinids had a single row
of conical teeth. There does not seem to have been any specialisation
to the teeth, and in the past many have speculated that Labidosaurus
may have been omnivorous.
In
2011 a specimen of Labidosaurus was described as
having evidence of
osteomyelitis, which in more simple English is an infection of the
bone. This infection was in the bone of the lower jaw, and is
thought to have been established through a broken tooth that allowed
bacteria to take hold. This is quite plausible since the teeth of
Labidosaurus were very deep rooted, which meant
that although they
would have been continually replaced by new teeth throughout life,
the tooth replacement process would have taken a much longer time than
in relatives with shallower roots, allowing for far more time for an
infection to take hold.
Labidosaurus
should not be confused with the similarly named captorhinid
Labidosaurikos.
Further reading
- Second contribution to the history of the Cotylosauria. -
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
35(151):122-139. - Edward Drinker Cope - 1896.
- The skull and the paleoecological significance of Labidosaurus
hamatus, a captorhinid reptile from the Lower Permian of
Texas. -
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (2): 237–62.
- Sean P. Modesto, Diane M. Scott, David S. Berman,
Johannes M�ller & Robert R. Reisz - 2007.
- Osteomyelitis in a Paleozoic reptile: ancient evidence for
bacterial infection and its evolutionary significance. -
Naturwissenschaften 98 (6): 551–5. - Robert R. Reisz,
Diane M. Scott, Bruce R. Pynn & Sean P. Modesto -
2011.
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