Cyclotosaurus

Name: Cyclotosaurus ‭(‬round eared lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Cy-clot-o-sore-us.
Named By: Eberhard Fraas‭ ‬-‭ ‬1889.
Synonyms: Mastodonsaurus robustus.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Amphibia,‭ ‬Temnospondyli,‭ ‬Mastodonsauridae.
Species: C.‭ ‬robustus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬C. buechneri, C.‭ ‬ebrachensis,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬hemprichi, C. mordax, C. naraserluki,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬papilio,‭ ‬C.posthumus.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Skulls up to‭ ‬70‭ ‬centimetres long,‭ ‬largest individuals up to‭ ‬4.3‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: England‭ ‬-‭ ‬Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation‭ (‬Finstall Member‭)‬.‭ ‬Germany‭ ‬-‭ ‬Hassberge Formation,‭ ‬Löwenstein Formation,‭ ‬Stuttgart Formation,‭ ‬Trossingen Formation.‭ ‬Greenland‭ (‬Ørsted Dal Member‭) ‬-‭ ‬Fleming Fjord Formation.‭ ‬Luxembourg.‭ ‬Poland‭ ‬-‭ ‬Drawno Beds Formation.‭ ‬Russia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Bukobay Formation.‭ ‬Thailand‭ ‬-‭ ‬Huai Hin Lat Formation.
Time period: Ladinisan to Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.




       By the end of the Triassic,‭ ‬the temnospondyl amphibians had already been greatly reduced in number to what they were in the earlier Permian and Carboniferous.‭ ‬They were not all gone however,‭ ‬and some like Cyclotosaurus were without doubt flourishing.‭ ‬So far fossils of Cyclotosaurus have been found all the way from Greenland,‭ ‬across much of Europe,‭ ‬and even as far as Thailand in south‭ ‬East Asia.‭ ‬On top of this the largest individuals of Cyclotosaurus grew to over four meters long,‭ ‬meaning that large Cyclotosaurus were even capable of taking down early dinosaurs.‭ ‬The dentition of Cyclotosaurus however indicates a more piscivorous‭ (‬fish hunting lifestyle‭)‬,‭ ‬though Cyclotosaurus could have still snatched smaller animals from the water’s edge.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Cyclotosaurus cf.‭ ‬Posthumus Fraas‭ (‬Capitosauridae,‭ ‬Stereospondyli‭) ‬from the Huai Hin Lat Formation‭ (‬Upper Triassic‭)‬,‭ ‬Northeastern Thailand.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Geobios‭ ‬14‭ (‬6‭)‬:‭ ‬711‭–‬25.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Rucha Ingavat‭ & ‬Phillippe Janvier‭ ‬-‭ ‬1981.
-‭ ‬Late Triassic continental vertebrates and depositional environments of the Fleming Fjord Formation,‭ ‬Jameson Land,‭ ‬East Greenland.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Meddelelser om Grønland,‭ ‬Geoscience‭ ‬32:‭ ‬1‭–‬25.‭ ‬-‭ ‬F.‭ ‬A.‭ ‬Jenkins Jr,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬H.‭ ‬Shubin,‭ ‬W.‭ ‬W.‭ ‬Amaral,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Gatesy,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Schaff,‭ ‬L.‭ ‬B.‭ ‬Clemmensen,‭ ‬W.‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Downs,‭ ‬A.‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Davidson,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬Bonde‭ & ‬F.‭ ‬Osbaeck‭ ‬-‭ ‬1994.
-‭ ‬The temnospondyl amphibian Cyclotosaurus from the Upper Triassic of Poland.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Palaeontology‭ ‬48:‭ ‬157‭–‬70.‭ ‬-‭ ‬T.‭ ‬Sulej‭ & ‬D.‭ ‬majer‭ ‬-‭ ‬2005.
- A new species of Cyclotosaurus (Stereospondyli, Capitosauria) from the Late Triassic of Bielefeld, NW Germany, and the intrarelationships of the genus. - Fossil Record. 19 (2): 83–100. - F. Witzmann, S. Sachs & C. J. Nyhuis - 2016.
- Cyclotosaurus naraserluki, sp. nov., a new Late Triassic cyclotosaurid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Fleming Fjord Formation of the Jameson Land Basin (East Greenland). - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e1303501. - M. Marzola, O. Mateus, N. H. Shubin & L. B. Clemmensen - 2017.



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