Paludidraco
Name:
Paludidraco (marsh/swamp dragon).
Phonetic: Pah-lu-de-dray-ko.
Named By: C. de Miguel Chaves, F. Ortega
& A. Pérez-García - 2018.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Nothosauroidea, Simosauridae.
Species: P. multidentatus
(type).
Diet: Filter feeder?
Size: Roughly about 2.5 meters long.
Known locations: Spain - Keuper Formation.
Time period: Carnian/Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skulls and post
cranial skeleton.
Paludidraco
is a genus of nothosaur
known to have lived in Western European waters
of the late Triasssic period. Paludidraco is
thought to have been
similar to the Simosaurus
genus, yet while Simosaurus is thought
to have been an active predator, the markedly different dentition of
Paludidraco suggest a different lifestyle. The
jaws of Paludidraco
are notably lightweight, and the teeth quite small but very
numerous. When the jaws closed, these teeth meshed together. One
possibility is that Paludidraco may have cruised
around near the ocean
floor and taken mouthfuls of soft sediment from the sea floor. With a
shaking head action, the sediment particles would be sieved out from
the sides of the mouth, while any invertebrates within would remain
inside so that they could be swallowed.
Further reading
- New highly pachyostotic nothosauroid interpreted as a
filter-feeding Triassic marine reptile. - Biology Letters
14:20180130. - C. de Miguel Chaves, F. Ortega &
A. Pérez-García - 2018.
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