Recent paleopathological studies also suggest that tail structures and osteoderms may be linked not only to defensive responses to predators

although frequently lowering its head during feeding

Ichthyostega stensioei is a species of extinct tetrapod that lived during the Devonian period

Además de su peculiar dentición

but for other functions such as defense

Hovasaurus boulei Embolotherium Recent paleopathological studies also suggestHovasaurus boulei was an extinct diapsid reptile from the Late Permian and possibly part of the Early Triassic , known primarily from its fossil remains in Madagascar , especially in the Dzulfian Sakamena Formation (approximately 252247 million years old) , which spans the Permian Triassic boundary. It is one of the most specialized representatives of the tangasaurids , a primitive group of sauropsids that adapted to an aquatic lifestyle shortly after