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''Lotosaurus'' is an extinct genus of sail-backed poposauroid known from Hunan Province of central China. ==Description== ''Lotosaurus'' is known from the holotype IVPP V 4881 (or possibly V 4880), articulated well-preserved skeleton, and from the referred specimens IVPP V 48013, skull, articulated and disarticulated skeletal remains of at least ten individuals, all came from a monotypic bonebed. All specimens were collected from the ''Lotosaurus'' site, from the Batung Formation (or alternatively Xinlingzhen Formation of the Badong Group〔), dating to the Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic, about 245-237 million years ago.〔 ''Lotosaurus'' was long and a heavily built quadruped. It was a herbivore, biting off leaves with its toothless jaws. ''Lotosaurus'', like some other members of the Poposauroidea, had a sail on its back. It looked similar to that of Permian pelycosaurs like ''Dimetrodon'' and ''Edaphosaurus'', although not as high. ''Lotosaurus'' was originally thought to be a thecodont, probably related to Ctenosauriscus and other archosaur taxa with elongated neural spines (=Ctenosauriscidae). Many recent cladistic analyses confirmed this affinity. Nesbitt (2007) was the first to suggest that ''Lotosaurus'' is more closely related to ''Shuvosaurus'' (a shuvosaurid) than to ''Arizonasaurus'' (a ctenosauriscid). In his massive revision of archosaurs which included a large cladistic analysis, Sterling J. Nesbitt (2011) found ''Lotosaurus'' to be a poposauroid, sister group of the Shuvosauridae, and therefore it is not included in the Ctenosauriscidae.〔 Further studies confirmed these results. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lotosaurus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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