Thursday, February 18, 2010

DinoBlag: Batrachotomus


A more esoteric choice on my part: Batrachotomus kupferzellensis. It is a prestosuchid rauisuchian from the Middle Triassic (Ladnian) of southern Germany. It was found in a swampy region, so it's no accident that its name means "frog cutter".


It grew up to 20 feet (6 meters) long, making it one of the larger of the rauisuchians. Rauisuchians are, of course, a suborder of crurotarsan archosarus, mostly land-bound crocodiles which lived from the Permian until the Triassic. They were very widespread, and have been found on nearly every continent. Batrachotomus is distinguished from its cousins by a series of bony, leaf-shaped scutes on its back known as osteoderms. This term means "bony skin", which is precisely what they were.


With a tall, narrow skull and a relatively upright posture, it is easy to see why Batrachotomus and its ilk ruled the Triassic world. It was well-suited for hunting the prey it needed to, as it was faster than most of them.


It lived in the same habitat as several large amphibians like Mastodonsaurus, nothosaurs, and relatives of the marine Tanystropheus.

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