Introduction:
Arizonasaurus, meaning Arizona’s Lizard, was not actually a Dinosaur or a Lizard. I am pretty sure what Dinosaur comes to mind when you see a sail-backed reptile, it is the Ouranosaurus!! I am kidding!! I am sure Spinosaurus comes up on your mind but this is not even a Dinosaur and it is not even close to Spinosaurus, by time or by family tree. Arizonasaurus is a kind of terrestrial crocodile which became prominent in the Triassic Period.
This is one of the more bizarre forms a crocodilian family has adapted to and it is not alone in it’s family tree but this one is also one of the most complete fossil finds ever. Now, without any further delay, let’s learn what is this crocodilian in depth!
Discovery:
Arizonasaurus was discovered in, can you guess the location?? It’s in the name already, the USA‘s state of Arizona. Specifically saying, the Moenkopi Formation of Arizona which is full of Triassic Period aged rocks. The species was named by Samuel Paul Welles in 1947 and later on, a fairly complete skeleton was discovered in 2002 by Sterling Nesbitt. Not many fossils have been found after that and so we have to go off a part of top jaw and some teeth from 1947 but in 2002, a fairly complete but fragmentary skeleton was found and when compared with the previous find, they were the finds of the same species and we have a clearer picture of this crocodilian.
Biology:
Arizonasaurus was a terrestrial crocodilian which had a sail made of tall neural spines and it belonged to a family called Ctenosauriscidae which consists of similar genera like the Arizonasaurus. It grew up to 3m (10 ft) long and half a meter (1.6 ft) tall. It was a fairly decent sized crocodilian for Triassic Period and the presence of poposauroid in the early Middle Triassic Period suggests that the divergence of birds and crocodilians occurred way before than paleontologists thought.
One thing I find fascinating about Triassic is the very weird and different kinds of reptiles evolving at this time. Like look at Arizonasaurus itself, I mean, look at how cool it looks. A crocodile walking on 4 legs like a lion and a huge on the back like that of a Spinosaurus. It cannot go any cooler than this. Arizonasaurus had a spine before Spinosaurus but after Dimetrodon. I should make a post about Dimetrodon soon.
But Arizonasaurus is not the only member of the Ctenosauriscids and there are many more genera in this family group. Let’s take a look at some of the Ctenosauriscids, which are Xilousuchus, Hypselorhachis, Ctenosauriscus, Bromsgroveia and a Waldhaus taxon. Waldhaus taxon is basically researched to be a separate genus of animal but not described or published yet and so we do not know the name of it essentially. Ctenosauriscus is the genus and the namesake of the Ctenosauriscidae family. And this family evolved from Poposauroidea clade. Ctenosauriscidae genera, all of them, have some sort of sail structure and a crocodilian.
I find it amazing how one family group of reptiles diversified so quickly in just one time period and not only that but Triassic Period is also one of the smallest time period when compared with Jurassic and Cretaceous Period. Triassic Period is so unique and had an explosion of all sorts of lifeforms but not a lot of people know about this. Not a lot of people know how unique and cool Triassic Period is.
Ctenosauriscids from the Middle Triassic allowed the distribution of Triassic fauna to be widespread across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. The fauna of the Moenkopi Formation represents a stage transitional fauna between the faunas of older and younger age. The weather in Middle Triassic could have been hot and arid which would cause them to have larger sails for thermoregulation. The sail would allow for body temperature change allowing for more of an active lifestyle as a carnivore.
Media:
Even though this crocodilian is super cool in design and function, there has not been appearances of this crocodilian in any sorts of media which is a bit disappointing and I hope we can get to learn more about this crocodilian.
Merchandise:
I looked around for merch and there was not any merch related for Arizonasaurus. I am thinking of maybe doing a sticker or something for Triassic reptiles. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
If you want to see these dinosaurs or even crocodilians like this post illustrated for your own, be sure to click the button below as I have started my new Fiverr commission channel and it would be a great way to support my blogging endeavor as I try my best to bring more dinosaur and many more creature related content to you guys!!! See you again soon!
