Megalancosaurus
Name:
Megalancosaurus
(Big forelimbed lizard).
Phonetic: Meg-ah-lan-coe-sure-us.
Named By: M. Calzavara, G. Muscio &
R. Wild - 1980.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Protorosauria, Drepanosauridae.
Species: M. preonensis
(type), M. endennae.
Diet: Inectivore.
Size: Roughly about 25 centimetres long.
Known locations: Italy.
Time period: Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Two species recognised,
most of the skeleton is known.
Megalancosaurus
is one of the better known of the drepanosaurs, a special group of
reptiles that possessed tails that could hook around branches. With
an additional hook on the end of their tails, Megalancosaurus
are
believed to have walked along the branches of Triassic era tree
canopies, hunting for small invertebrates to eat.
Megalancosaurus
is noted for having a bird-like skull, in fact Megalancosaurus
was
even once considered to possibly be an ancient ancestor of birds until
the remainder of the skeleton was discovered and that idea was
disproved once and for all. The slender jaws of Megalancosaurus
were
probably instead used to reach into tight recesses to pluck out hidden
invertebrates.
Further reading
- Megalancosaurus preonensis, n. g., n.
sp., a new reptile
from the Norian of Friuli". Gortania 2: 49–63 - M.
Calzavara, G. Muscio & R. Wild - 1980.
- Birdlike characters in the Triassic archosaur Megalancosaurus.
-
Natur Wissenschaften 80:564–566 - R. Wild & A.
Feduccia - 1993.
- Megalancosaurus, a possibly arboreal
archosauromorph (Reptilia)
from the Upper Triassic of Northern Italy. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology 14(1):38-52. - S. Renesto - 1994.
- Bird-like head on a chameleon body: new specimens of the enigmatic
diapsid reptile Megalancosaurus from the Late
Triassic of Northern
Italy. - Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 106:
157–179. - S. Renesto - 2000.
- The taxonomy and paleobiology of the Late Triassic
(Carnian-Norian: Adamanian-Apachean) drepanosaurs (Diapsida:
Archosauromorpha: Drepanosauromorpha) - New Mexico Museum of
Natural History and Science Bulletin 46: 1–81 - Silvio
Renesto, Justin A. Spielmann, Spencer G. Lucas &
Giorgio Tarditi Spagnoli - 2010.
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