"Es raro. Es el animal más feo del mundo", fueron las palabras de uno de los científicos que descubrió al Gerrothorax pulcherrimus, un peculiar anfibio que tenía una huesuda armadura y poblaba los lagos cálidos hace 210 millones de años.
Según informó 20 minutos, la especie abría su boca sin dejar caer la mandíbula inferior, como hacen otros animales vertebrados. En cambio levantaba hacia atrás la parte superior de su cabeza de una forma similar a una tapa de un WC.
Farish Jenkins, one of the scientists at the University of Harvard, who described the mechanisms of its bite in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, adding that "it is almost unimaginable keep your jaw still and lift head back to take a bite ".
Scientists think the Gerrothorax lived at the bottom of a lake and with a sudden movement of his head created a space that left him speechless for any unfortunate caught fish swimming ahead happen.
The Gerrothorax measuring about one meter long and heavily protected by a bony armor. His head and body were very flat and had members short and thick, while well-developed gills. Their jaws have rows of sharp teeth and the roof of his mouth was furnished with long tusks to prevent fish from escaping.
Due to a special adaptation of the connection between your brain and the first vertebra of his neck, Gerrothorax could lift his head from his lower jaw up to 50 degrees, creating the necessary space to swallow their prey.
The Gerrothorax belongs to a rare group of amphibians called plagiosaurus, a line that has no descendants and disappeared along with numerous other species in a mass extinction 200 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic period.
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