Thoosuchus
yakovlevi -Ryabinin, 1925- skull
Labyrinthodontia: Temnospondyli: Benthosuchidae
Locality:
Tikhvinskoye, Yaroslavl Region, central European Russia
Age:
Early Triassic, 245 million years ago
In
the Triassic, significant changes of climate, plant assemblages
and arrangement
of continents occured.
These changes essentially altered conditions of existence
of terrestrial tetrapods,
and many of their ancient Paleozoic groups became almost
completely extinct.
In comparison with the end of Late Permian, the climate got
milder in the Triassic,
and diverse labyrinthodonts spread widely in large basins.
The
labyrinthodonts Thoosuchus, Benthosuchus, Eryosuchus
are
very unlike in sizes and obviously behaved in different ways.
At the same
time, their affinity to each other as well as to Permian labyrinthodonts is
easily
recognizable by the characteristic shape of the skull in these ancient amphibians.
