Name:
Anteosaurus (Greek for "early lizard"); pronounced ANT-ay-oh-SORE-us
Habitat:
Swamps of southern Africa
Historical Period:
Late Permian (265-260 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 20 feet long; weight unknown
Diet:
Unknown
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Large size; long, crocodile-like tail; weak limbs
About Anteosaurus:
Anteosaurus looked remarkably like a dinosaur caught midway between evolving into a crocodile: this huge therapsid (the mammal-like reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs) had a streamlined, crocodilian body with a huge snout, and its puny-looking limbs lead paleontologists to believe that it spent most of its life in water.
As with many therapsids, the feature of Anteosaurus that gets paleontologists' hearts pounding is its teeth, a melange of canines, molars and incisors that could have been used to rip into everything from overgrown ferns to quivering, herbivorous reptiles.
