(Colbert, 1970)Price's Southern Cross Lizard
Staurikosaurus pricei
The scrub-land and forests of Central Pangea in the Late Triassic (in what will one day be South America) are home to a number of large, herbivorous, creatures which are the prey for some of the first dinosaurs. Staurikosaurus pricei, the descendent of the small, bipedal, archosaurs of the Early and Middle Triassic is a killer of the first order.Thanks to Peter Buchholz for helping me with the latin translation of the name and to Ray Stanford for his input concerning the stance of S. pricei .Staurikosaurus pricei's sliding joint in its lower jaw alows the jaw to flex backwards and forwards as well as up and down. By sliding the jaws past each other in this way, S. pricei can work strugling prey down its backwards-curved teeth into its gullet. This method is very a efficiant means of dispatching small prey.
This trait is fairly universal among the primitve staurikosaurs and herrerasaurs, but will be replaced by a simpler up/down jaw joint when the staurikosaurs become extinct at the end of the Triassic (Gregory S. Paul). S. pricei, specifically adapted as it is to hunt large prey, uses its larger-than-average teeth to kill animals larger than it can swallow whole.
Other sites containing pertinent information:
- T. Mike Keesey's Staurikosaurus.
- Shiraishi Mineo's Staurikosaurus picture
- DinoData's Staurikosauruspage
- Dinosaur Encyclopedia, by Don Lessem and Donald Glut, published 1993 by Random House
- Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, a Complete Illustrated Guide, by Gregory S. Paul, published in 1988 by Simon and Schuster.
