AGE:
Late Permian, Zone I and Zone II, 299-290 million years ago

SIZE:
About the size of a medium salt-water crocodile

MEANING OF NAME
'Flat faced reptile’

PRONUNCIATION:
Platy-oh-poe-SAWR-us

CLASSIFICATION:
TEMNOSPONDYLI (an amphibian): Eryopoidea, Archegosauridae

Represented by a skull of a carnivorous labyrinthodont amphibian. This species probably reached up to 2 5 metres in length and probably fed primarily on fish-filling an ecological role much like crocodiles and alligators today.