Dutuitosaurus ouazzoui

Dutuitosaurus belonged to the metoposaurids, a group of essentially aquatic amphibians with small limbs and a large flattened head.

It is well known to palaeontologists because numerous remarkably well-preserved fossils were found in the Moroccan High Atlas at the beginning of the 1960s. The skeletons on display here come from a group of 75 individuals, 15 of which were extracted as complete, articulated specimens. The accumulation of these animals in a single spot corresponds to a mass death due to the drying out of a lake or river.

In metaposaurids, the back of the skull grew more quickly than the front. As a result, the ornamentation on this part of the skull is stretched and the orbits are situated towards the front. In other temnospondyl amphibians the front part of the skull grows more quickly causing the orbits to be positioned at the back of the skull. Therefore, some can have a long snout such as Eocyclotosaurus lehmani and the Madagascan trematosaurus displayed in case 44.

The metaposaurids are known from the Upper Triassic of Europe, North America, India, Morocco and probably Madagascar. Dutuitosaurus ouazzoui is considered to be a primitive form (or plesiomorph) of this group.