#protorosaurus

[earlypalaeoart]

Protosaurus [Protorosaurus] speneri from Das Buch der Geologie. Naturgeschichte der Erde in allgemein verständlicher Darstellung für alle Freunde dieser Wissenschaft [The Book of Geology: The Natural History of the Earth in a Generally Understandable Presentation for All Friends of the Science] by Rudolph Ludwig (1861, Otto Spamer Publishing House, Leipzig), volume II.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4349889&seq=355&view=1up

[princefluph]

Archovember day 2! Protorosaurus was a rather large Permian reptile that grew over six feet (two meters) in length and apparently was one of the first fossil reptiles to have a description. I find it rather funny that this animal existed in the Permian when most animals at the time took on strange morphology like large heads and big fangs (or the opposite) but most reconstructions I found make it look as if it were just a large Monitor.

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 2 - Protorosaurus speneri

Rather unspectacular and lizard-y in life, Protorosaurus speneri is actually one of the oldest and most primitive members of Archosauromorpha, the group that would eventually lead to dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and pseudosuchians. It lived during the Late Permian in Germany and Great Britain. For a Permian animal, it was actually quite large, growing to up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) long. While it had the conical, unserrated teeth characteristic of a predator, bits of conifer have been found in one specimen’s stomach, as well as gastroliths used for grinding tough plants. Therefore, Protorosaurus was probably an omnivore or even fully a herbivore. Protosaurus’ long neck was likely an adaptation for plant-eating, using it to reach to higher branches, hinting at what was eventually to come for Archosauria.

Living in the Zechstein Formation, Protorosaurus would have lived near the edge of the Zechstein Sea, a large inland shallow sea that existed in Northern Europe during the Late Permian. The environment was semi-arid, dominated by conifers and seed ferns. Protorosaurus would have lived alongside the gliding weigeltisaurid reptiles Weigeltisaurus and Glaurung, the pareiasaur Parasaurus, the cynodont Procynosuchus, as well as captorhinids, dicynodonts, and temnospondyl amphibians.

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!

[antiqueanimals]

The World of Dinosaurs. Written by L. B. Halstead. 1979.

Internet Archive

[blaiddydsaurus]

Some permian fellas

[252mya]

Dinoserious Permian poster

The sixth in the fantastic series of stylised Paleozoic posters by Dinoserious. It features several of the synapsids that ruled land ecosystems from the Permian period.

sulc.us/posterpermi

Art by dinoserious

[antiqueanimals]

Theodor Reichardt