''Brazilosaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

mesosaur Mesosaurs ("middle lizards") were a group of small aquatic reptiles that lived during the early Permian period ( Cisuralian), roughly 299 to 270 million years ago. Mesosaurs were the first known aquatic reptiles, having apparently returned to a ...

which lived during the early

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

(

Artinskian In the geologic timescale, the Artinskian is an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian Epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. The Artinskian likely lasted between ...

stage) of what is now

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is known from specimen BSPG 1965 I 131, a single

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

recovered from the Assistencia Member of the

Irati Formation Irati Formation is the name of a geological formation of the Paraná Basin in Brazil. It has previously been dated as Late Permian using palynomorphs, but is now dated as Early Permian using zircon ages obtained from bentonite layers. The base of ...

( Hanayama Farm,

Tatuí Tatuí is a city located in São Paulo state, Brazil, part of the Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba. It is known for having the largest music institution in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America, the Conservatório Dramático e Musical ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

), in the

Paraná Basin The Paraná Basin (, ) is a large cratonic sedimentary basin situated in the central-eastern part of South America. About 75% of its areal distribution occurs in Brazil, from Mato Grosso to Rio Grande do Sul states. The remainder area is distribu ...

. It was named by T. Shikama and H. Ozaki in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis''. ''Brazilosaurus'' is not to be confused with the

archosaur Archosauria () or archosaurs () is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant taxon, extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistics ...

Brasileosaurus ''Brasileosaurus'' (meaning "Brazil lizard") is a genus of notosuchid notosuchian from the Late Cretaceous Adamantina Formation of Brazil. The type species is ''B. pachecoi'', discovered by the Brazilian Eng. Joviano Pacheco and described by t ...

''.

References

Parareptilia Prehistoric reptile genera Prehistoric marine reptiles Permian reptiles of South America Permian Brazil Fossils of Brazil Paraná Basin Fossil taxa described in 1966 Cisuralian life Artinskian life {{permian-reptile-stub