Hypsognathus

Hypsognathus

• Northeastern North America

Hypsognathus was about 33 centimeters long reptile from the group of Procolophonidae, which lived about 200 million years ago in the Late Triassic. Fossil remains of the species were found in the Passaic Formation in New Jersey, Connecticut and Nova Scotia. At the time of the Upper Triassic, the region was the central, western Pangaea.

Features

Hypsognathus was the last and most specialized Procolophonid. Characteristic were the bony spines, which come from the Quadratojugale, a skull bone and possibly served to protect them from predators. In larger specimens the spines were provided with longitudinally extending grooves, possibly a sheath of horn gave support. Otherwise, his skull was wide, the cranial bones without special surface structures. Probably, his skin was similar to the present-day Australian Thorny Devil ( Moloch horridus ), provided with spines. The jaws of Hypsognathus were provided with few teeth. Two were sitting on the premaxilla, four or five on each maxilla. He fed on plants.