Trilophosaurus (
Greek for "
Lizard with three
ridges") was a lizard-like
Triassic archosauromorph reptile. It was a
herbivore up to 2.5 m long. It had a short, unusually heavily built skull, equipped with massive, broad flattened cheek teeth with sharp shearing surfaces for cutting up tough plant material. Teeth are absent from the
premaxilla and front of the lower jaw, which in life were probably equipped with a horny beak. The skull is also unusual in that the lower
temporal opening is missing, giving the appearance of a
euryapsid skull. Because of this, the trilophosaurs were once classified with
placodonts within
Sauropterygia.
Carroll (1988) suggested that the lower opening may have been lost to strengthen the skull.