New warrior-like crocodile relative fossil found in Brazil reshapes Triassic predator evolution

A striking new fossil from southern Brazil is offering a clearer view of how crocodile-line archosaurs evolved long before dinosaurs became dominant. The species, named Tainrakuasuchus bellator, comes from a Middle Triassic layer in Rio Grande do Sul and reveals a medium-sized predator with a slender jaw, recurved cutting teeth and elongate neck vertebrae. Its anatomy points to an agile and specialised carnivore occupying an ecological niche that had been under-represented in the region’s fossil record. The discovery also highlights how diverse early archosaurs already were at this time, and how their evolutionary experimentation unfolded across Gondwana during a period of major environmental and biological change. According to the study describing the specimen, published in the Journa