Scutosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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Scutosaurus ("Shield Lizard") was a genus of armor-covered pareiasaur, perhaps as much as 3 to 6 meters (10 to 20 feet) long, which lived around 260-250 million years ago in Russia, in the later Permian period. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body. It was a large anapsid reptile that, unlike most reptiles, held its legs underneath its body to support its great weight.
It was an herbivore, which probably lived in herds and was adapted to the dry conditions which covered much of Pangaea at that time. It was of a very heavy build, almost rhinoceros-like.
[edit] In Popular Culture
Scutosaurus was shown in the Walking with Monsters series as being a social animal that migrated in groups. Scutosaurus was depicted as being the main prey of a large gorgonopsid, later erroneously identified in the books as Gorgonops. It was highly unlikely that Gorgonops preyed on these beasts, as it was indigenous to the region in Pangaea that is now South Africa. However, the Russian gorgonopsid Inostrancevia may have preyed on Scutosaurus, instead.
Scutosaurus was also shown in the Primeval series, where it was also erroneously shown to live in proximity to Gorgonops (instead of Inostrancevia). See List of creatures in the Primeval series.
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