How did Lystrosaurus fossils support the theory of continental drift?
Colbert recovered Lystrosaurus fossils from Lower Triassic rocks in Antarctica’s Transantarctic Mountains. Those fossils belonged to a species previously found in Africa, providing further evidence that the distant present-day continents were once connected.
What was significant about the Lystrosaurus findings?
Lystrosaurus fossils provided some of the most persuasive pieces of evidence for plate tectonics in the late 1960s, because their skeletons were found in diverse regions of the world, including Africa, China and Antarctica.
What continents were fossils of Lystrosaurus found on?
It is approximated that it grew up to one meter in length and was relatively dominant on land during the early Triassic period (250 million years ago). Lystrosaurus fossils are only found in Antarctica, India, and South Africa.
How do fossils support the theory of evolution?
Fossils of the simplest organisms are found in the oldest rocks, and fossils of more complex organisms in the newest rocks. This supports Darwin’s theory of evolution, which states that simple life forms gradually evolved into more complex ones. Evidence for early forms of life comes from fossils.
What was the habitat of the Lystrosaurus?
Distribution and species Lystrosaurus fossils have been found in many Late Permian and Early Triassic terrestrial bone beds, most abundantly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in parts of what are now India, China, Mongolia, European Russia, and Antarctica (which was not over the South Pole at the time).
What fossils support the continental drift?
One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.
What type of organism was the Lystrosaurus?
The name Lystrosaurus (pronounced liss-tro-sore-us) means ‘shovel lizard,’ a reference to what is believed to be its burrowing habit. The genus belongs to a group of reptiles called therapsids, which also included the ancestors of mammals. They lived during the late Permian Period.
How did Lystrosaurus survive?
The suggestion that Lystrosaurus was helped to survive and dominate by being semi-aquatic has a similar weakness: although temnospondyls become more abundant in the Karoo’s Triassic sediments, they were much less numerous than L. murrayi and L. declivis.
How did the discovery of Lystrosaurus support the theory of continental drift?
The discovery of this fossil, along with other specimens of Lystrosaurus, was instrumental in providing the scientific proof needed to validate the theory of continental drift. In 1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener officially proposed a theory of continental drift.
What is Lystrosaurus fossils used for?
Lystrosaurus fossils may serve as indicators of the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods and also are part of the body of evidence supporting the theory of continental drift.
Is Lystrosaurus a mammal or reptile?
LystrosaurusTherapsids, such as Lystrosaurus, were mammal-like reptiles that thrived early in the Triassic Period (252 million to 201 million years ago). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Lystrosaurus was roughly 1 metre (about 3 feet) long and was heavily built.
When did Lystrosaurus go extinct?
(Show more) Lystrosaurus, extinct genus of about seven species of medium-sized heavily built animals that lived from the middle of the Permian Period (298.9 million to 251.9 million years ago) until early in the Triassic Period (251.9 million to 201.3 million years ago).