Amphibian August #17 – Plagiosaurus
Plagiosaurus lived during the Late Triassic of Germany (~205-201 mya), and was one of the last members of the plagiosaurids. Part of the same lineage of temnospondyls as the metoposaurids, this group took their body shapes to even more of an extreme – wide and flat, with stubby limbs and mouths that opened upwards like toilet seats.
Very similar to its close relative Gerrothorax (who was featured on this blog a few months ago), Plagiosaurus reached a size of about 1m long (3′3″). It was a fully aquatic bottom-dwelling ambush predator, waiting for smaller animals to swim close to its mouth and then sucking them in.
These animals are often depicted with external gills as adults, and I’ve done the same here, but some sources interpret them as having internal gills like the dvinosaurs.
hychlorions
