Pseudosuchian Saurosuchus galilei, of Late Triassic, Argentina!
This Archovember’s pseudosuchian apex predator is Saurosuchus galilei, a large, heavy Loricatan from Late Triassic South America. Loricata is the clade responsible for many of the most famous large predatory pseudosuchians of the Triassic, including Postosuchus and Prestosuchus, and also includes the crocodylomorphs which would eventually become today’s crocodilians. Saurosuchus was one of the largest high-walking predatory loricatans (often referred to as “rauisuchians”, though this is a paraphyletic term) at 5.5–7 m (18–23 ft) long and weighing over 590 kg (1,300 lb). Studies have shown that it had a mechanically strong skull, but a surprisingly weak bite force for its size, and likely scraped flesh and muscles off of carcasses with its teeth rather than crunched down on bone. Saurosuchus also had large olfactory bulbs but poorly developed optic lobes, indicating it likely relied on a good sense of smell rather than sight to track down prey. It also seemed to have broad hearing sensitivity, especially for low-frequency sounds.
As the apex predator of the Ischigualasto Formation, Saurosuchus galilei had little competition. Its environment was a tropical, fluvial and floodplain ecosystem with strongly seasonal rainfalls, similar to the warm temperate grasslands of Oklahoma and central Argentina. It would have shared the environment (and probably preyed on) other pseudosuchians like the tiny Trialestes, the aetosaur Aetosauroides, and the giant herbivorous shuvosaurid Sillosuchus. Dinosaurs were on the menu as well, including early theropods like Anteavis and Eodromaeus, early sauropodomorphs like Chromogisaurus, Eoraptor, and Panphagia, and of course, the only saurischian that could have possibly given Saurosuchus any trouble, Herrerasaurus. Other reptiles included the bizarre Hyperodapedon, the proterochampsids Proterochampsa and Pseudochampsa, and lepidosaurs like Taytalura. Synapsids lived here as well, including cynodonts like Chiniquodon, Diegocanis, Ecteninion, and Exaeretodon, and dicynodonts like Ischigualastia.
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