''Ischigualastia'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of large

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, t ...

therapsids that lived during the Late Carnian age and the Early Norian age of the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

. The genus was found in and named after the

Ischigualasto Formation The Ischigualasto Formation is a Late Triassic geological formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of southwestern La Rioja Province, Argentina, La Rioja Province and northeastern San Juan Province, Argentina, San Juan Province in northw ...

(Cancha de Bochas Member) of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It has been placed in the family

Stahleckeriidae Stahleckeriidae is a family (biology), family of dicynodont therapsids whose fossils are known from the Triassic of North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Classification Phylogeny Below is a cladogram from Szczygielski and Sulej (2023): ...

Description

The genus is described as an enormous dicynodont, with a short, high skull, and lacking tusks. Its close relative is ''

Placerias ''Placerias'' (meaning 'broad body') is an extinct genus of dicynodonts that lived during the Carnian to the Norian age of the Triassic Period (geology), Period (230–215 million years ago). ''Placerias'' belongs to a group of dicynodonts called ...

'', which measured around long and weighed up to .

Paleoecology

It was a large

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion in which animals have four legs that are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four legs is said to be a quadruped (fr ...

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

, most common at the base of the

. It was a common member of the local fauna, although not as abundant as the medium-sized herbivores ''

Hyperodapedon ''Hyperodapedon'' (from , 'above' and , 'pavement') is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur reptiles which lived during Triassic, Late Triassic period. Like other rhynchosaurs, it was an heavily built Archosauromorpha, archosauromorph, distantly rel ...

'' and ''

Exaeretodon ''Exaeretodon'' is an Extinction, extinct genus of fairly large, low-slung traversodontid cynodonts from the southern parts of Pangea. Four species are Knowledge, known, hailing from various geologic formation, formations. ''E. argentinus'' is fr ...

''. It was one of the two dicynodont that lived in the

(the other being '' Jachaleria''). The only danger to such a huge animal was the almost equally large carnivorous pseudosuchian ''

Saurosuchus ''Saurosuchus'' (meaning "lizard crocodile") is an extinct genus of large loricatan pseudosuchian archosaurs that lived in South America during the Late Triassic period. It was a heavy, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal carnivore, likely being the a ...

'' and perhaps the predatory dinosaur ''

Herrerasaurus ''Herrerasaurus'' is likely a genus of saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic period. Measuring long and weighing around , this genus was one of the earliest dinosaurs from the fossil record. Its name means "Herrera's lizard", after the ...

'', which shared the same environment. Along with its relative ''

'', it was the second largest dicynodont after the gigantic ''

Lisowicia ''Lisowicia'' is an extinct genus of giant dicynodont synapsid that lived in what is now Poland during the late Norian or earliest Rhaetian age of the Late Triassic Period, about 210–205 million years ago. ''Lisowicia'' is the largest known di ...

''.

References

External links

* Kannemeyeriiformes Carnian genera Late Triassic synapsids of South America Fossils of Argentina Ischigualasto Formation Fossil taxa described in 1962 {{anomodont-stub

Description

Paleoecology

See also

References

External links