In Depth
Perhaps the easiest way to describe Palaeosaniwa is as a late Cretaceous monitor lizard. Indeed the name Palaeosaniwa actually means ‘ancient Saniwa’, a reference to the genus Saniwa which was a kind of monitor lizard that lived in North America later during the Eocene.
The teeth of Palaeosaniwa are flattened like blades with small serrations along the edges which mean that Palaeosaniwa was a killer of vertebrates such as other lizards, primitive mammals to probably small dinosaurs and the eggs, hatchlings and small juveniles of larger species. Palaeosaniwa however was not the top predator of the time as predatory dinosaurs such as dromaeosaurs, troodonts and tyrannosaurs were all active in the same habitats as Palaeosaniwa.
Further Reading
- Fossil lizards of North Ameria’, Charles W. Gilmore - 1928.
