A prehistoric reptile with three eyes
Common creatures on Earth have two eyes, and the third eye tends to exist only in myths, legends, and literary games. Not long ago, paleontologists really discovered an animal with three eyes that lived in the Triassic Period 229 million years ago.
Picture note: The place where the fossil of Triscopic dragon was found, the picture comes from the network
Photo note: Old photo of Sanshilong's No. 3 mine, picture from the Internet
There is a chalk mine called Otis in Howard County, Texas, where fossils of distant paleontology are occasionally found. In Pit 3 of the Otis Chalk Mine, paleontologists have found a lone fossil belonging to the skull of some kind of animal.
Picture note: Stocker, one of the researchers of the three-sighted dragon, a big beauty, the picture comes from the Internet
After studying the fossils, paleontologists published a paper in 2016 titled "A dome-headed stem archosaur exemplifies convergence among dinosaurs and their distant relatives," in which the genus Triopticus was established.
Image note: Skull fossil of Trisopteraurus, picture from the Internet
The genus names of " Trisophorp " come from the Latin words " tri " ( meaning " three " ) and " optic " ( meaning " visual " ) , deriving from the depression at the back of its head. The model species name of the Triceratops is Triopticus primus, which is also derived from Latin, meaning "primitive, early". Taxonomically , " Trisoptera " belongs to archosauriformes " under archosauromorpha .
Illustration: Three eyes, often seen in myths, the picture comes from the network
The genus name of the three-eyed dragon means "with three-sided vision", which means that it has three eyes, which sounds a bit incredible, but it is true.
Illustration: A three-dimensional model (gif) of the skull of a three-sighted dragon from the network
The internal structure of the skull of The Three-Sighted Dragon, the purple one for the brain, the picture comes from the network
Although paleontologists have only found fossils of the upper skull cap of the incomplete skull of Diplodocus, there is a small, sunken hole in the top of its skull. Using three-dimensional scanning techniques to scan the skull and simulate internal reconstruction, paleontologists believe that this depression can accommodate just one pineal body eye, which is the third eye of the trisopheaurus and the reason for its name.
Although the pineal body eye is different from the eyeball in structure, it has the function of photosensitivity and can be used as an aid to binocular vision. If the trisoptera really had a pineal body eye behind its head, it was really an animal with long eyes on its back.
Note: Close relatives of the three-sighted dragon, their appearance is relatively similar, the picture comes from the network
Since we have only found fossil skulls of Trisopsicosaurus, we cannot accurately reconstruct their shape. However, according to the species related to it, it should have a long neck, a thin body, and long limbs. Trisopteran is a reptile with a quick reflex, and the third eye behind its head helps it detect danger as early as possible.
The third eye of the three-eyed dragon became the focus of everyone's attention, and in fact, the only fossil skull also showed another feature of it, that is, the thick top of the head. CT scans showed that the thick skull of Trisopsan's high bulge consisted of three layers inside, the lowest layer was a dense bone layer, the middle layer was porous and full of capillaries, and the upper layer was the most dense.
Illustration: Trisoptera and Diplodocus, they have similar skull structures, the image comes from the internet
The skull structure of The Trilodosaurus was not unique, but also had the exact same structure on the skull of the sword horn dragon that belonged to the genus Diplodocus in the dinosaur family. More than 100 million years apart, two species belonging to completely different animal families have similar skull structures, which is really incredible. Paleontologists believe that this similarity is the result of convergent evolution, and does not prove that Trisoptera is a distant ancestor of the diplodocus family.
Note: Trisoptera and Diplodocus belong to different families, but have similar skull structures, and the picture comes from the Internet
Skull structures similar to those of Diplodocus predicted certain behaviors of Diplodocus, who may have used thick heads as weapons or tools, as the Bulbophyllosaurus did 100 million years later.
Picture note: Triscopic life of the Triassic, near the crocodile is similar to the plant dragon class, the picture comes from the network
Trisoptera lived in the late Triassic period, 229 to 226 million years ago, in southern North America. Compared with the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods that we are familiar with, North America during the Triassic period was an unfamiliar world, inhabited by many peculiar creatures. Paleontology living with Trisoptera included malerisaurus belonging to the protodra order, doswellia of the Dawelswellans, parasuchus and angistorhinus of the plesiosaurs, lucasuchus and coahomas of the order Troutosaurus, and effigia of the sumu dragons. Silesaurus of the Cyrusididae, dromomeron with dinosaur-like appearances, and lepidus of the dinosaur family. These names are not already dizzying, it belongs to the main dragon class, is a close relative of dinosaurs, and is also the dominant taxon before dinosaurs dominated the earth.
The skull of the three-sighted dragon shows a lot of information, and the picture comes from the network
Most of the animals that lived with Trisoptera became extinct during the immediate "Triassic-Jurassic Extinction Event", after which the dinosaurs became the masters of the earth.
Resources:
1.stocker, m.r.; nesbitt, s.j.; criswell, k.e.; parker, w.g.; witmer, l.m.; rowe, t.b.; ridgely, r.; brown, m.a. (2016). "a dome-headed stem archosaur exemplifies convergence among dinosaurs and their distant relatives". current biology. 26: 2674–2680. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.066.
2.hieronymous, t.l.; witmer, l.m.; tanke, d.h.; currie, p.j. (2009). "the facial integument of centrosaurine ceratopsids: morphological and histological correlates of novel skin structures". anatomical record. 292 (9): 1370–1396. doi:10.1002/ar.20985.
3.goodwin, m.b.; horner, j.r. (2004). "cranial histology of pachycephalosaurs (ornithischia: marginocephalia) reveals transitory structures inconsistent with head-butting behavior". paleobiology. 30 (2): 253–267. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2004)030<0253:chopom>2.0.co;2.
Illustration: Strange-looking Tali monster, picture from the Internet