Description
- Apachesaurus
- Amphibian Tooth
- Triassic Age
- Bull Canyon Formation
- San Miguel County, New Mexico
- Specimen measures approx  1/16″ long and will come in the 2″ x 2″ Display Box with Label as Shown
Apachesaurus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian.
Apachesaurus was a member of the Metoposauridae group of temnospondyl amphibians,†‬though one that was particularly small.†‬The larger close relatives of Apachesaurus include Metoposaurus and Koskinonodon which could grow up to two and a half to three meters long.†‬Apachesaurus however grew only to around just over forty centimetres long.
Due to the smaller size,†‬Apachesaurus were probably predators of smaller aquatic organisms.†‬Like other related genera,†‬the eyes were placed further forward on the skull that those of other temnospondyl amphibians.†‬Fossils of Apachesaurus are particularly well known from the states of Arizona and New Mexico where individuals have been found in concentrations.†‬This seems to be a recurring theme that Apachesaurus shares with its relative genera,†‬and the explanation is that metoposaurids were not very good at walking on land,†‬so when pools of water and rivers dried out,†‬they were left exposed to the air where they too dried out and died from lack of water.
