This armor was lost in the evolution of dinosaurs and pterosaurs but then re-appeared later several times, independently, in the dinosaur lineage. Mambachiton fiandohana shows definitively that the bird-line archosaur group was ancestrally armored.
Unexpectedly, the species had an extensive series of bony plates called osteoderms covering its backbone.Īlthough osteoderms are common in crocodilians and their relatives, they are rare in bird-line archosaurs, with the exception of dinosaurs like stegosaurs, ankylosaurs, titanosaur sauropods, and at least one theropod. Mambachiton fiandohana was between 1.5 and 2 m (5-6.6 feet) long and weighed 10 to 20 kg. John Flynn, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History. “This discovery documents the importance of the southern hemisphere fossil record in understanding this important period of the Triassic, when dinosaurs were first appearing,” said Dr. The well-preserved postcranial remains of Mambachiton fiandohana were found in 1997 in the Isalo II/Makay Formation of Madagascar. They showed up well after many dinosaur-looking reptiles were established across our planet.” “Dinosaurs were latecomers to the Triassic reptile party. Sterling Nesbitt, a paleontologist at Virginia Tech and the American Museum of Natural History. “We are just starting to understand that there were many dinosaur-like creatures across the planet well before dinosaurs evolved,” said Dr. Mambachiton fiandohana is the earliest diverging member of the bird line of archosaur evolution.
Īrchosaurs are reptiles that are divided into two major branches: the bird-line, which includes pterosaurs and dinosaurs, including living dinosaurs (birds) and the crocodilian line, including crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials.
Life reconstruction of Euparkeria capensis, a species of archosauriform reptile from the Triassic of South Africa.
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