Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
323 / Mesozoic
Gerrothorax
Gerrothorax pulcherrimus
A shovel-flat skull may have opened by lifting the upper jaw.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 230–201 million years ago
- Final stage
- End of the Triassic
- Geographic range
- Freshwater lakes and rivers · Europe and Greenland
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Gerrothorax?
Gerrothorax (Gerrothorax pulcherrimus) was an extinct organism known from About 230–201 million years ago, with a range in Freshwater lakes and rivers · Europe and Greenland.
Life and ecology
This permanently gilled temnospondyl waited on the bottom and suction-fed on fish.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Gerrothorax disappear?
End-Triassic climate change and freshwater turnover are the likely setting in which this long-lived branch ended; a specific cause is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Gerrothorax?
Skeletons of several ages preserve gill supports, scales and skull joints.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS