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Crurosauria; No Triassic-Jurassic Extinction
Topic Started: Jul 6 2010, 03:06 PM (3,321 Views)
Vultur-10


Introduction: In this alternate evolutionary history, the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction never happened. In our history, this cleared out a lot of the other archosaurs and some of the synapsids, giving the dinosaurs dominance. In this universe, those groups carried on, and so the ecological niches of large land animals have a much greater taxonomic diversity - dinosaurs, crurotarsans, and even some therapsids and a few other groups. (The name Crurosauria is a compound of Crurotarsa + Dinosauria, the two dominant groups of large land vertebrates.) Mammals exist, and are slightly more diverse and larger than in the real Mesozoic, but still nowhere near dominant. Pterosaurs are present, and fill more or less the same role they did in our Mesozoic, though the species are different. Pterodactyloid pterosaurs never develop, nor do birds.

The time periods are also different; the Triassic carries on till 183 Mya, including most of our Early Jurassic. A significant marine extinction occurs then, but it has little effect on land. The Jurassic runs from 183 Mya to around 110 Mya, when the rapid diversification of calcific ferns transforms the landscape dramatically. The Cretaceous continues until a hammerblow of massive volcanic eruptions circa 80 Ma.
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Pilocrocodilia is the real Thallasogorgonopsids
Currently a part of Specworld's revival and The Dark Phoenix's Dinosaur Spec... Still open for idea exchanges and commentaries

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Vultur-10


cephlaken
Sep 10 2010, 09:54 AM
This is nice^^ i'm glad to see this up again.
Are there any rhyncosaurs or pterosaurs in this project/
Yeah, there are, just haven't gotten to them yet.
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Vultur-10


busy, but just to keep this semi-alive, another pilocrocodilian:


Garbadger (Trichogavialis sp.)
Size: 0.9 to 1.2 meters long, 12 to 30 kg
Diet: predatory -- fish
Habitat: continental lakes
Time: Latest Triassic (c. 190 mya)

The garbadger is a monotypic genus of pilocrocodilian. They rather resemble badgers or wolverines with slightly webbed feet, except that their snout is very long and narrow like a gavial's or gar's. The garbadger is a specialized fish-eater, and is fairly rare. Garbadger females lay 4 to 11 eggs, and young garbadgers take three years to mature.

---

next post I'll talk about the continental lakes of Pangaea, with some other species from there
Edited by Vultur-10, Sep 24 2010, 01:14 PM.
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Vultur-10


Continental Lakes

In the center of the enormous supercontinental mass of Pangaea, the climate is quite extreme, with searing summers and freezing winters. Most of the center is a continent-sized rock desert that would dwarf the Sahara, with stretches of sand desert. However, in east-central Pangaea, a vast lowland basin supports a series of immense lakes. These large bodies of water moderate the local climate, supporting a zone of cycad-fern savanna surrounding these lakes. This ecosystem, being isolated by vast stretches of desert from any similar environment, has developed a strongly distinct biota. An unique subfamily of cycads (the pillarcycads) dominates the landscape. The pilocrocodilia are the dominant predators in these lakes, and the fish species are nearly all endemic.
Edited by Vultur-10, Oct 9 2010, 05:28 PM.
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The Dodo
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Like the environment your describing, pillarcycads sound like an interesting subfamily.
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Vultur-10


PILLARCYCADS

These cycads are named for the long, upright trunks in mature individuals. Their profile resembles a palm tree, with a tall trunk bare of foliage, then a crown of fronds at the top. However, while the pillarcycad's own foliage does not grow on the trunk, this area is often colonized by other plants - either shade-loving epiphytes or parasites.

The pillarcycad produces vast numbers of large nutritious seeds, but these contain a toxin and are inedible to most animals. A genus of lizards, however, has adapted to tolerate the toxin.

Some pillarcycad species found in the wetter regions near the continental lakes can reach up to 32m tall; a dense stand of these rising out of a fern marsh can present a striking appearance.

WHITEBRUSHES

Named for their pallid, leafless stems, this group of parasites on pillarcycads is almost entirely non-photosynthetic, relying on the pillarcycad for nutrients and energy. Any chloroplasts they retain are merely vestigial and do not contribute noticeably to the plant's nutrition. Whitebrushes are generally small, their superficial appearance being a cluster of small (10 cm or less) white, waxy twigs. Beneath the pillarcycad's bark, the whitebrush has a network of long (up to 40cm), slender roots infiltrating the vascular system of the host and stealing nutrients.

CYCADSEED LIZARDS
These large (up to 75cm and 2kg) eolacertilians (lizard-like reptiles) superficially resemble iguanas. They are omnivorous, but feed very heavily on the seeds of pillarcycads in the season when those are available; the cycadseed lizards' life cycle is timed such that when the young of the year need the most food for growth, the cycad seeds are most plentiful.
Edited by Vultur-10, Dec 1 2010, 09:55 PM.
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The Dodo
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Like the plants, though I think lizards only evolved during the late Triassic and wouldn't of been as diverse back then. I would use a different animal although some primitive lizards could take that niche.
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Forbiddenparadise64
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This project is great, I'm looking forward to the late Jurrassic and the Cretacious and cenozoic.
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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Vultur-10


The Dodo
Nov 30 2010, 08:36 PM
Like the plants, though I think lizards only evolved during the late Triassic and wouldn't of been as diverse back then. I would use a different animal although some primitive lizards could take that niche.


Well, the period divisions are different here -- Crurosauria's Late Triassic lasts 17 million years into our Jurassic.

Also I think (wikipedia says so, anyway) that there's supposed to be a pretty big ghost lineage there.

Still, yeah, I should probably change it. I'll make them eolacertilians -- that's a pretty obscure group.
Edited by Vultur-10, Dec 1 2010, 09:54 PM.
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Vultur-10


Forbiddenparadise64
 
This project is great, I'm looking forward to the late Jurrassic and the Cretacious and cenozoic.


Thanks!

Yeah, I plan to start the Jurassic soon.
Edited by Vultur-10, Dec 1 2010, 09:48 PM.
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Forbiddenparadise64
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I wonder when he will start doing this again.
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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Dayshade
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Yeah, I enjoyed reading this. Keep it going!
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Cephylus
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Well, this is updated slowly, so....
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Pores come back.
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Projects:
Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs.

Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes.

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