Arizonasaurus

Arizonasaurus is an extinct genus of sail-backed archosaur from Middle Triassic Arizona, represented by the species Arizonasaurus babbitti. Its tall neural spines formed a prominent sail along its back.

Archosaur: Archosaurs are reptiles in the lineage that includes crocodilians and birds, along with their extinct relatives. Arizonasaurus belongs to this broad reptile lineage, though it lies outside the crocodilian-and-bird branch.
Neural spine: A neural spine is the upward-projecting part of a vertebra that provides attachment area for muscles and ligaments. Arizonasaurus had elongated neural spines that supported its conspicuous back sail.
Charles Lewis Camp: Charles Lewis Camp was an American vertebrate paleontologist who studied and named fossil reptiles. Camp named Arizonasaurus babbitti from fossils collected in Arizona.
Ctenosauriscus: Ctenosauriscus is an extinct sail-backed poposauroid known from Early Triassic Germany. Its tall back spines make it a useful comparison for Arizonasaurus’s sail.
Poposauroidea: Poposauroidea is a group of Triassic archosaurs that includes sail-backed, bipedal, and crocodile-like forms. Arizonasaurus is commonly classified within this diverse archosaur group.
Thermoregulation: Thermoregulation is the control of body temperature through physiological or behavioral processes. A sail could have exchanged heat with the environment, though its function remains uncertain.
M. J. M. Mehl: M. J. M. Mehl was an American paleontologist who described Triassic vertebrate fossils. Mehl collected the fossils later recognized as the basis for Arizonasaurus.
Lotosaurus: Lotosaurus is an extinct, toothless poposauroid from the Middle Triassic of China. It demonstrates the varied body forms found among poposauroids near Arizonasaurus’s time.
Middle Triassic: The Middle Triassic is the interval of geologic time from about 247 to 237 million years ago. Arizonasaurus lived during this interval, when archosaurs were diversifying.
Locomotion: Locomotion is the movement of an organism from place to place. Arizonasaurus’s limb and hip anatomy informs estimates of how it moved.

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