Named By: | A. P. Hunt in 1993 |
Time Period: | Late Triassic, 228-208 Ma |
Location: | USA, including Arizona - Chinle Formation, New Mexico - Bluewater Creek Formation, Bull Canyon Formation, Redonda Formation, Santa Rosa Formation, Sloan Canyon Formation, and Texas - Cooper Canyon Formation |
Size: | Around 43 centimetres long |
Diet: | Carnivore/Piscivore |
Fossil(s): | Multiple individuals |
Classification: | | Chordata | Amphibia | Temnospondyli | Stereospondyli | Metoposauridae | |
Koskinonodon is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl amphibians. These animals were part of the family called Metoposauridae, which filled the crocodile-like predatory niches in the late Triassic. It may have reached up to 3 m (10 ft) in length, with a 65-cm-long skull. It was an ambush hunter, snapping up anything small enough to fit in its huge jaws. It was very common during the Late Triassic (Carnian age) in what is now the American Southwest.