Riojasuchus tenuiceps


Riojasuchus tenuiceps speculative reconstruction from Wikipedia

Name: Riojasuchus tenuiceps [The thin-headed crocodile of Rioja Province]

When: Late Triassic Period, around 220 million years ago

Where: Quebrada de los Jachaleros, San Juan Province, Argentina

Claim to fame: Riojasuchus is one of the last surviving members of a reptile group called ornithosuchids - largish predators from the dawn of the age of dinosaurs, but not dinosaurs, themselves. The skull of Riojasuchus is 25 cm long. Also, its skeleton is better known than other members of this group, making it an importance reference. Ornithosuchids were archosaurs, members of the large group that is descended from the most recent common ancestor of crocodylians and birds. In fact, ornithosuchids like Riojasuchus are just barely closer to the ancestry of crocs than to birds. Ornithosuchids are distinguished by their triangular eye sockets, which look as if they were being squeezed on the bottom by the skull openings in front of and behind them. Although many fossil archosaurs had an overhanging front of the snout, ornithosuchids took it to extremes. Ornithosuchids didn't make it into the Jurassic, the period when dinosaurs truly took over the world


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