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Description

Portrait of a strange sauropterygian from the Triassic of China - Atopodentatus unicus Cheng et al, 2014.Originally, this three-metre reptile was a very strange animal with a very unusual structure of the skull, whose power was incomprehensible (feeders?). The recent description of a new, better-preserved instance showedthat the previous reconstruction was based on the skeleton with a deformed skull. Actually it was aherbivorous animal that "grazing" on the bottom of shallow seas, similar to modern dugongs or marine iguanas.

Description

Portrait of a strange sauropterygian from the Triassic of China - Atopodentatus unicus Cheng et al, 2014.Originally, this three-metre reptile was a very strange animal with a very unusual structure of the skull, whose power was incomprehensible (feeders?). The recent description of a new, better-preserved instance showedthat the previous reconstruction was based on the skeleton with a deformed skull. Actually it was aherbivorous animal that "grazing" on the bottom of shallow seas, similar to modern dugongs or marine iguanas.