Ischigualastia
Temporal range: Late Carnian to Early Norian
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Mounted skeleton of Ischigualastia jenseni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Anomodontia
Clade: †Dicynodontia
Family: †Stahleckeriidae
Subfamily: †Stahleckeriinae
Genus: †Ischigualastia
Cox 1962
Type species
†Ischigualastia jenseni
Cox, 1962

Ischigualastia is an extinct genus of large dicynodont therapsids that lived during the Late Carnian age and the Early Norian age of the Late Triassic Period. The genus was found in and named after the Ischigualasto Formation (Cancha de Bochas Member) of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina. It has been placed in the family Stahleckeriidae.[1]

Description

Life reconstruction of Ischigualastia jenseni

The genus is described as an enormous dicynodont, with a short, high skull, and lacking tusks.[2] It is regarded as larger as its later, more famous relative Placerias, which weighed over 2 tonnes (2,000 kg).

Paleoecology

It was a large quadrupedal herbivore, most common at the base of the Ischigualasto Formation. It was a common member of the local fauna, although not as abundant as the medium-sized herbivores Hyperodapedon and Exaeretodon. The only danger to such a huge animal was the almost equally large carnivorous pseudosuchian Saurosuchus and perhaps the predatory dinosaur Herrerasaurus, which shared the same environment. It was the second largest dicynodont after the gigantic Lisowicia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Carroll, Robert L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1822-7.
  2. ↑ Kazlev, M.A., White, A.T. (2004-02-01). "Therapsida: Neotherapsida: Dicynodontia". Palaeos. Retrieved 1 November 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


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