Placerias
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| Placerias | |
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| Type | mammal-like reptile |
| Length | 10-11,5 ft (3-3,50 m) |
| Height | approx. 7 ft (2,10 m) |
| Weight | 1-2 tons |
| Movement | quadruped |
| Diet | herbivore |
| Environment | savannah |
| Distribution | USA |
Placerias was a dicynodont (a group of mammal-like reptiles) that lived during the late Carnian age of the Triassic Period. It was a member of the family Kannemeyeridae, the last known representative of the group in North America.
This animal was the largest herbivore of its environment, measuring up to 3.5 metres long and weighing one to two tonnes. There are possible ecological and evolutionary parallels with the modern hippopotamus. It used a beak with two short tusks to uproot plants; the tusks may also have been for intra-specific display.
Fossils of forty Placerias were found near St. Johns, southeast of the Petrified Forest in Arizona. This site has become known as the 'Placerias Quarry' and was discovered in 1930, by Charles Camp and Samuel Welles, of the University of California, Berkeley. Sedimentological features of the site indicate a low-energy depositional environment, possibly flood-plain or overbank. Bones are associated mostly with mudstones and a layer that contains numerous carbonate nodules.
Placerias are featured in Walking With Dinosaurs. They're shown travelling in herds, trying to keep away from Postosuchus.
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