Who or What was Desmatosuchus?
Another unusual question posed today by email from the mother of a young dinosaur fan that had come across a picture of a very odd looking prehistoric animal in a children’s reference book. We were asked what sort of animal was a Desmatosuchus?
Desmatosuchus
Desmatosuchus (Desmatosuchus haploceras) was certainly not a dinosaur, although these animals did live at the time when the dinosaurs were becoming the established, dominant mega fauna of the Late Triassic. Desmatosuchus was an aetosaur, a member of the archosaur group from which the Order Dinosauria evolved. The term aetosaur means “eagle lizards”, as when first studied; it was remarked upon by some scientists how the skulls of these reptiles resembled birds. All aetosaurs discovered to date seem to have been plant-eaters, slow moving animals covered in varying degrees of dermal armour.
Fossils of Desmatosuchus are associated with the western United States and specimens up to 4 metres long and perhaps representing individuals weighing as much as 500 kilogrammes have been found.
An Illustration of Desmatosuchus
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Like the majority of aetosaurs, Desmatosuchus had heavy body armour consisting of four-sided plates running along its back, encasing the tail and the belly region. It also had a pair of shoulder horns which were probably used to deter potential attackers. The posture is typically semi-erect but the bones of the foot and teeth have puzzled scientists. They are not sure whether Desmatosuchus was semi-aquatic, perhaps filling a niche in the eco-system as a form of Triassic Hippo.
A Model of a Typical Aetosaur (Desmatosuchus)
A model of a typical aetosaur (ruler provides scale). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The model manufacturer CollectA have earned a reputation for creating models of Triassic prehistoric animals, it may only be a question of time before an aetosaur is added to their already extensive range of Triassic critters.
To view the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs range in stock at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Prehistoric Life Models.
Too bad we only have ideas about such creatures. Thankfully, that doesn’t interfere with our certainty as to what they were and how they would appear to us today. Just imagine what we can discern from future discoveries we also know next to nothing about! Ideas have one tremendous thing going for them: they need only bear the slightest resemblance to reality to be taken seriously.