#lariosaurus

[boobookittenartblog]

It is great when your educated guesses or hypotheses get proven correct by the fossil record.

Here are reconstructions of three Lariosaurus species I did for my book (in preparation) of the reptiles of the Triassic. I did these a couple of years ago and I had to hypothesize how the webbing and limbs shape would look like with all muscles and skin covering. I also had to hypothesize these animals were probably largely covered in small scales.

Well, in late August Renesto et al. published a paper in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology where they described a beautiful specimen of Lariosaurus valceresii that preserves the skin, even outlining the body and limbs as well as preserving scales. And i must say that I am happy that it is very very close to what I had hypothesized. 😍😍😍. I might have to make some slight adjustments to some scales in L. valceresii but that is pretty much it!

Text and artwork by Gabriel Ugueto

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Result from the #paleostream For some times now I have been fascinated by the Jialingjiang Formation and it's bizarre content. It's best known for the hupehsuchians, the only place and time they are known from. But there are quite a few other critters as well.

here the little size chart that I made yesterday in preparation. Fun fact about the Jialingjiang Formation: we have not a single fish fossil so far, only incho fossils indicate that that they were present too. The reptiles however, are often preserved fantastically!

Here some examples of hupehsuchians and other animals from there. After some digging, people from our Discord server also found some invertebrates to include in the image.

The environment of this formation was apparently extreme: very warm water, high salinity (lots of potassium), arid climate over the waves (it was a hot soup). This and the relative isolation of the giant lagoon these animals lived in, potentially lead to a lot of endemism.

Btw. I came back to this formation because of the recent Hupehsuchus filter feeding paper. I think it's a fascinating topic. However I'm not sure I can agree with the idea that this animal would be a continuous ram feeder, similar to right whales.

While that fits the probably rather slow locomotion of the animal the jaws look more like those of Rorqual whales. So how does that fit? Thankfully a friend noticed that, while torso and tail are rather stiff, the neck is quite flexible...

so a potential strategy I could imagine here is that they thrashed their heads left and right into clouds of shrimp/plankton, similar to how some crocodiles do it to catch small fish. Let me known what you think. I'm looking forward to more research into these animals.

[dromaeosaurid]

Lariosaurus balsami from A Guide to the Fossil Reptiles and Fishes in the Department of Geology and Paleontology in the British Museum (Natural History), 1896.

[i-ce--and--i-tal]

#sunset #lake #lookingfor #lariosaurus

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

This Lariosaurus was a Middle Triassic nothosaur that could grow up to 10 feet long!

[infinitemachine]

Nothosaur of the Day: TSoSC#4 = Lariosaurus goes for a stroll by Gogosardina

Lariosaurus “Lizard from Lario” Family: Nothosauridae Time: Mid Triassic Location: Italy Size: 60cm (2ft) Note: Not a dinosaur

[tettura]

At Castel Vezio, which was built what looked like entirely out of claystone or clayey mudstone, there was some info about Lariosaurus, a species of dinosaur discovered in the town of Perledo nearby. I guess it makes sense that the fossil was discovered here because it probably would have been well-preserved in the claystone. Maybe the formation of these fine aggregate clastic sedimentary rocks is a relatively gentle process of lithification, which can keep bones from getting too damaged or scattered. The Lariosaur lived during Triassic period (from 250 - 200 million years ago). For comparison, the limestone in the caves of Pastena was deposited about 100 million years ago in a shallow sea, became exposed to the air during the Pleistocene (within the last 2 million years). 

The Lariosaur hunted fish in shallow waters, which was the environment in which the claystones of Castel Vezio were deposited. The minerals from the seawater probably helped to cement the claystone together as it was compressed and heated by the weight of the depositing sediments above it.

Near Perledo, I found some spots where a mountain stream had eroded a gorge that exposed different layers of sedimentary rock. This stuff looks more silty or sandy - the aggregates don’t look as fine as the claystone in the castle walls. It would have been awesome to spend some time looking for fossil here - the stream looked pretty wild and unaffected by humans.