Shuvosauridae: The Dinosaur Look-Alikes

Published on 2023-04-15 | Archived on 2024-09-17

The shuvosaurids were a group of reptiles who looked very similar to dinosaurs, particularly the ornithomimosaurs (nicknamed the "ostrich mimics") and actual ostriches. Shuvosauridae consists of three named species, Sillosuchus, Effigia, and Shuvosaurus itself. All of them lived during the Triassic Period, the very same time that dinosaurs were just beginning to evolve. In spite of their external appearance, the shuvosaurids were actually only distant relatives of the dinosaurs and were instead more closely related to crocodilians. Recent research has also found they also filled different niches than the dinosaurs they most closely resembled.

Thank you to the themattalorian for narrating this video.


Sources:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2005.3426

https://www.academia.edu/49770902/Taxonomy_of_Shuvosaurus_a_Late_Triassic_Archosaur_from_the_Chinle_Group_American_Southwest

https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/volume-2007/issue-302/0003-0090(2007)302%5b1%3aTAOEOA%5d2.0.CO%3b2/THE-ANATOMY-OF-EFFIGIA-OKEEFFEAE-ARCHOSAURIA-SUCHIA-THEROPOD-LIKE-CONVERGENCE/10.1206/0003-0090(2007)302[1:TAOEOA]2.0.CO;2.full

https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10334802

https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-american-museum-of-natural-history/volume-2011/issue-352/352.1/The-Early-Evolution-of-Archosaurs--Relationships-and-the-Origin/10.1206/352.1.full#:~:text=The%20Early%20Evolution%20of%20Archosaurs%3A%20Relationships%20and%20the%20Origin%20of%20Major%20Clades&text=Archosaurs%20have%20a%20nearly%20250,the%20crocodylians%20and%20the%20avians



00:00 - Introduction
01:04 - Pseudosuchia
01:58 - Discovery
04:20 - Range
05:35 - Size
06:45 - Anatomy
10:09 - Metabolism
10:54 - Diet
13:30 - Conclusion
14:14 - Outro