Description

Early Permian

Red Beds Facies

Archer County, TX, USA

10mm jaw section with 2 teeth and one partial. Extremely rare.

Synapsid, Pelycosaur.

Varanosaurus was one of the smaller synapsids, the group of vertebrates that were reptile-like but belonged to a separate lineage that led to therapsids and mammals.  Sometimes, this genus is illustrated in mainstream paleontology publications. While its larger relatives, Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus, reached lengths over 10 feet long, Varanosaurus was more of a 3-4 foot animal. It has been proposed as having sort of the “monitor lizard” lifestyle, a terror to for smaller animals even as it had to be alert for its own predators.