Trematosauria

Trematosaurus

• Worldwide

The Trematosauria are an extinct group of terrestrial vertebrates from the group of Temnospondyli. They lived on the Lower Triassic to Lower Cretaceous. Their ancestors are therefore one of the few Temnospondyli who survived the extinction of species at the end of the Permian.

Most Trematosauria - there are multiple lines - living aquatic. The deposits in which the fossils of some forms were found, suggest that some lived in the sea. The Trematosauria are so beside Tulerpeton the only amphibian -like animals, who immigrated to this habitat.

There have been described several lines of Trematosauria:

Trematosauroidea

The typical members of the Trematosauroidea was a gavialähnliches Long-snouted animal that was dedicated to fishing.

On the skull they had significant lateral line canals. Fossil remains of animals have been found in Greenland, Spitzbergen, Madagascar, South Africa, western North America, Australia and Russia. They lived only in the Lower Triassic and are probably a primitive line of Trematosauria.

Metoposauroidea

The Metoposauroidea were flat -headed, aquatic animals and resembled the Capitosauria. From this they differed by the further ahead and upward eyes. The Metoposauroidea were particularly in the Upper Triassic in North America, Europe and India frequently, but had been living in the Middle Triassic and possibly had a worldwide distribution. The animals may have spent most of the time submerged motionless, waiting for prey swimming by. In her jaw sat rows of teeth on the palatine bone and they also had big teeth. On land, they were probably very awkward. Large amounts of fossils were lying together particularly found in deposits that have emerged from the mud flat, desiccating freshwater lakes.

Plagiosauroidea

The Plagiosauroidea are known only by rare fossils from the Triassic of entire Europe. They are strange Temnospondylen with very short, wide skulls that were covered by pustular outgrowths and reduced limbs. The eyes were set close together on the skull center. They lived aquatic. Some forms, e.g. Gerrothorax retained their external gills as in adult animals.

Brachyopoidea

The Brachyopoidea had a short, broad and flat skull. They probably lived semi -aquatic. Fossils have been found in North and South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and Antarctica. They lived throughout the Triassic, the families Brachyopidae and Chigutisauridae even longer. In Australia, China and Mongolia very large growing forms were found from the Lower, Middle and Upper Jurassic. The Koolasuchus described in 1997 from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia was the last living members of the Temnospondyli. The late forms survived probably in regions that were geographically isolated, or had a cool climate, so they were not inhabited by crocodiles.