''Rutiodon'' ("Wrinkle tooth") is 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 ...

phytosaur Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalent gr ...

belonging 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 ...

Parasuchidae Parasuchidae is a clade of phytosaurs more derived than '' Diandongosuchus'', a basal phytosaur. It encompasses nearly all phytosaurs, include early ''Parasuchus''-grade forms as well as a more restricted clade of more specialized phytosaurs. Thi ...

. It lived during the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

, and was about in length. ''Rutiodon'' is known from the eastern United States (

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

Description

Like other

s, ''Rutiodon'' strongly resembled a

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant ...

, but its nostrils were positioned far back on the head, close to the eyes, instead of at the tip of the snout. It had enlarged front teeth, and a relatively narrow jaw, somewhat resembling that of a modern

gharial The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct ...

. This suggests that this

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other ...

probably caught fish and it may also have snatched land animals from the waterside. Also, like modern crocodiles, its back, flanks, and tail were covered with bony armored plates. ''Rutiodon'' was among the largest carnivorous animals of its environment, measuring 3–8 meters (10–26 ft) in length.

Species

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( ...

of ''Rutiodon'' is ''R. carolinensis''. A second species, ''R. manhattanensis'', was discovered in 1910 near

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, ...

, and named in reference to its close proximity to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

Phylogeny

Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

from Stocker (2012):

References

External links

Geological report of the midland counties of North Carolina
by Ebenezer Emmons. New York, G.P. Putnam & Co.; Raleigh, H.D. Turner, 1856. * http://www.paleodirect.com/phyto1.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20070501202333/http://www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/NewBlood.html Phytosaurs Prehistoric reptile genera Late Triassic reptiles of North America Triassic geology of New Jersey Fossils of New Jersey Triassic geology of New York (state) Paleontology in New York (state) Triassic geology of North Carolina Fossils of North Carolina Fossil taxa described in 1856 Taxa named by Ebenezer Emmons {{triassic-reptile-stub