''Montealtosuchus'' was an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

crocodyliform Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only ps ...

.C. F. C. Geroto and R. J. Bertini. (2019). New material of '' Pepesuchus'' (Crocodyliformes; Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Bauru Group: implications about its phylogeny and the age of the Adamantina Formation. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 185(2):312-334 It was discovered in 2004 in the

Bauru Basin The Bauru Group is a geological group of the Bauru Sub-basin, Paraná Basin in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, General Salgado, Itapecuru-Mirim, Mato Grosso, Brazil whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, from

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campani ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interv ...

deposit Deposit may refer to: *Deposit (finance) (also security deposit) *Deposit (town), New York *Deposit (village), New York *Deposit account, a bank account that allows money to be deposited and withdrawn by the account holder **Demand deposit, the fund ...

s of the

Adamantina Formation The Adamantina Formation is a geological formation in the Bauru Basin of western São Paulo state, in southeastern Brazil. Its strata date back to the Late Cretaceous epoch of the Cretaceous Period, during the Mesozoic Era. The formation is par ...

. The species was described in 2007, and assigned to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Peirosauridae Peirosauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Cretaceous period. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodyliforms that evolved a rather dog-like form, and were terrestrial carnivores. It was phylogenetically define ...

. The

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

is ''M. arrudacamposi''. The genus takes its name from the type locality in Monte Alto municipality. This fossil, which was found in 2004, near the town of Monte Alto, in

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...

is very well preserved and quite complete. Most importantly,

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...

material has been found and this can help to link this fossil specimen with today's modern crocodiles. It would have grown to about 2 metres in length and would have been an active predator of smaller animals including

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

. Perhaps it was more terrestrial than its modern relatives, using its semi-upright gait to pursue prey.

External links and references

Zootaxa
Terrestrial crocodylomorphs Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs of South America Peirosaurids Adamantina Formation Fossil taxa described in 2007 Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera {{paleo-archosaur-stub