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Rauisuchus
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Rauisuchus

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Rauisuchus (meaning "Wilhelm Rau's crocodile") is a genus of extinct archosaurs which lived in what is now the Geopark of Paleorrota (Santa María Formation), Brazil, during the Late Triassic period (235–228 million years ago). It contains one species, R. tiradentes.F. v. Huene. (1942) Die fossilen Reptilien des südamerikanischen Gondwanalandes. Ergebnisse der Sauriergrabung in Südbrasilien 1928/29. München: C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Rauisuchidae
Image
Rauisuchus tiradentes.jpg
Show 5 more facts
taxon name
Rauisuchus
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Rauisuchus
start time
235000000-
end time
205600000-
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Discovery and naming
  • Description
  • Classification
  • References

Rauisuchus (meaning "Wilhelm Rau's crocodile") is a genus of extinct archosaurs which lived in what is now the Geopark of Paleorrota (Santa María Formation), Brazil, during the Late Triassic period (235–228 million years ago). It contains one species, R. tiradentes.

==Discovery and naming== In 1928 or 1929, near the road from Santa Maria to San Jose, Dr. Wilhelm Rau, a German fossil collector working under Friedrich von Huene, discovered the remains of a rauisuchid crocodile. He made the discovery some from the road at a site known as the Zahnsanga, which was likely a ravine or escarpment parallel to the road. The Zahnsanga site was part of the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation and was found in the uppermost of an layer. von Huene then sent the R. tiradentes material back to Germany alongside other fossils, including the holotype of Prestosuchus chiniquensis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rauisuchus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.