#dinocephalosaurus

[chameleocoonj]

flocking time :)

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2025 Day 2

Protorosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, of Middle Triassic, China!

Second on our Archovember list this year is the bizarre Middle Triassic protorosaur, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. Like their relatives, the tanystropheids, Dinocephalosaurus had a long neck with fang-like teeth used for catching fish. But, unlike the tanystropheids, its neck was not lengthened through the elongation of cervical vertebrae, but rather the addition of at least 27 individual neck vertebrae, giving it much higher flexibility. Also unlike the tanystropheids, it had paddle-like flippers which would have given it a purely aquatic lifestyle. Dinocephalosaurus’ long neck would have allowed it to sneak up on potential prey without its larger body being detected. One Dinocephalosaurus specimen was preserved with an embryo that suggests it gave live birth, making it the first known viviparous archosauromorph, (aside from possibly metriorhynchids).

Dinocephalosaurus orientalis was first described from the Upper Member of the Guanling Formation, with additional specimens discovered in the Luoping locality. Inhabiting the Middle Triassic seas of China, it would have lived alongside icthyosaurs such as Mixosaurus and Xinminosaurus, a wide variety of early sauropterygians like Keichousaurus, Wumengosaurus, Dianopachysaurus, Nothosaurus, and Placodus, and other marine reptiles like Sinosaurosphargis.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Results from the Flocking #paleostream

Dinocephalosaurus, Enoploura, Achelousaurus and Arizonasaurus.

[alphynix]

Dinocephalosaurus orientalis was a fully aquatic protorosaur reptile living in what is now southwest China during the mid-Triassic, about 244 million years ago.

Up to 6m long (~19'8"), it had a long serpentine body with paddle-like limbs and an especially elongated neck – but despite the superficial similarities to its semi-aquatic cousin Tanystropheus, Dinocephalosaurus' long neck appears to have been independently evolved.

Much like the similarly-shaped elasmosaurs, its neck may have had a "stealth" function, allowing it to bring its jaws closer to targets before the rest of its body was visible, then using side-to-side snapping bites to catch its prey in its interlocking "fish-trap" teeth.

A preserved well-developed embryo inside one specimen also suggests that Dinocephalosaurus gave birth to live young, making it one of only two archosauromorph lineages known to have ever evolved this reproductive strategy.

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[ppaleoartistgallery]

Paleostream 2/03/2024

here are this week's #Paleostream drawings!

today we drew Dinocephalosaurus, Enoploura, Achelousaurus, and Arizonasaurus

[veloci-raptor]

Flocking Together #39

Dinocephalosaurus/Enoploura

Achelousaurus/Arizonasaurus

[fangtalksdragons]

Dinocephalosaurus redescription

Check out the new paper on the redescription of Dinocephalosaurus,  long necked, aquatic protosaur that inhabited the Triassic seas of China. Wonderfully preserved specimen and while it convergently evolved a long neck similar to to Tanystropheus, instead of fewer elongaded neck vertebrae, Dinocephalosaurus has many many many shorter neck vertebrae. A bizare and wonderful necky boy of the fossil record to be sure. Art by Marlene Donnelly & Gabriel Ugueto

"Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, 2003: a remarkable marine archosauromorph from the Middle Triassic of southwestern China https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/dinocephalosaurus-orientalis-li-2003-a-remarkable-marine-archosauromorph-from-the-middle-triassic-of-southwestern-china/C7D48539139475EFCAAC35342089ACB8 "

[palaeofail]