. The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives. Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil. diles had not yet evolved. Perhaps it might be more accurate for this reason to say that the crocodiles are like phytosaurs; the phy- tosaurs came first and then died out—the crocodiles then appeared and evolved in a fashion that imitated to a remarkable de- gree the development of the phytosaurs. This parallelism between the phytosaurs and the crocodiles was due to the fact that both groups of reptiles occupied the same "ecologic niche," both groups played the same role in life history at the
. The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives. Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil. diles had not yet evolved. Perhaps it might be more accurate for this reason to say that the crocodiles are like phytosaurs; the phy- tosaurs came first and then died out—the crocodiles then appeared and evolved in a fashion that imitated to a remarkable de- gree the development of the phytosaurs. This parallelism between the phytosaurs and the crocodiles was due to the fact that both groups of reptiles occupied the same "ecologic niche," both groups played the same role in life history at the time in which they lived. In each case these were highly predaceous, water-loving reptiles that made their way in life by hunting. The phytosaurs, like the crocodiles of to- day, were the scourge of their environment. They feared nothing; they were the stealthy foes of whom all other animals of that day had to beware. THE PHYTOSAURS resembled crocodiles but were not their an- cestors. They lived the same kind of life as crocodiles but did not survive beyond the end of the Triassic period, about 155 million years ago, before the crocodiles evolved in a parallel direction. Notice the nostrils immediately in front of the eyes. (Genus Machaeroprosopus, from Arizona) Restoration by John C. Germann v 4J. 63. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Colbert, Edwin H. (Edwin Harris), 1905-2001; Germann, John C. New York, N. Y. : American Museum of Natural History
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookpublishernewyork, booksubjectreptilesfossil
