Varanosaurus
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| Varanosaurus Fossil range: Early Permian |
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Varanosaurus ('monitor lizard') is an extinct genus of early pelycosaur synapsid that was up to 1 m long that lived during early Permian (260 million years ago).
As its name implies, Varanosaurus looked very similar to present-day monitor lizards. It had a flattened, elongated skull and a pointed snout with a row of sharp teeth, including two pairs of conscipcuous pseudocanines. It was a small, imble reptile, shown by its dentition to have been a predator.
Varanosaurus probably lived in swamps, competing with the larger Ophiacodon for food.
[edit] References
Benes, Josef. Prehistoric Animals and Plants. Pg. 90. Artia: Prague, 1979.
[edit] See also
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