- · Grid units represent actual meters (m); human and animals are drawn to the exact same scale with original silhouette aspect ratios preserved.
- · When a size range is recorded (e.g. 1–1.6m), the lower bound is used for scale comparison.
- · Placodus silhouette: PhyloPic — Nobu Tamura (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · CC BY 3.0
- · Human silhouette: PhyloPic — NASA · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Placodus
Placodus gigas (Placodus · Placodus)
Known only from fossils. The IUCN Red List assesses only species extant since 1500 CE, so fossil taxa are not assigned a category.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its size of about 2 m compared in research papers is similar to the length of a single bed (about 2 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its large, flat teeth are thought to have been used to crush hard-shelled prey such as clams, and studies also recount how they were first mistaken for fish teeth.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
Placodus gigas (genus Placodus) was a placodont marine reptile that lived in coastal Middle Triassic seas. The skull given the species name gigas came from the Muschelkalk beds near Bayreuth, Germany.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its jaws bore large, flat teeth well suited for crushing hard shells. The large teeth of the first-discovered skull were glossy black.
🔍 3. Fossil Record & Paleoecology
Placodonts were coastal marine reptiles that crushed hard-shelled prey. The Bayreuth skull was initially misidentified as the teeth of a fish (a pycnodont), before Richard Owen showed in 1858 that it belonged to a reptile.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • Fossil taxon — the IUCN Red List assesses only species living or extinct since 1500
- • paleobiodb.org — basicTaxonInfo
- • wikidata.org — Q106493641
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:FOS232.jpg
- • natuurtijdschriften.nl — ST16. Art.15-Neenan-Placodontiformes.pdf
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC9422981
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Nobu Tamura (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.