Placerias

Placerias hesternus · Placerias was a huge, extinct plant-eating dicynodont that lived in the Late Triassic, with fossils found in Arizona, New Mexico and North Carolina.

It lived about 230 to 215 million years ago.

Placerias
Photo: Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY-SA 3.0
Placerias
Photo: Ornitholestes, Public domain
Placerias
Photo: Nobu Tamura, CC BY 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassSynapsida
OrderTherapsida
FamilyStahleckeriidae
GenusPlacerias
SpeciesPlacerias hesternus

Where its fossils were found

Arizona (especially the Placerias Quarry), New Mexico and North Carolina, USA.

Fun facts

  • Placerias was one of the biggest plant-eaters of the Late Triassic, weighing up to about 1,000 kilograms.
  • Placerias may have lived a bit like a hippo, wallowing in water during the wet season and chewing plants along the banks.
  • Its tusk-like parts weren't true tusks from teeth, but extensions of the skull that probably had a horny covering.
  • Placerias used its beak to slice through thick branches and roots, and its tusk-like flanges could be used for defence and display.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).