Overview

• Paleontologists formally named the new genus and species Kostensuchus atrox in a peer‑reviewed PLOS ONE study published on August 27, 2025.
• The holotype, found near El Calafate, preserves an articulated skull and jaws plus anterior postcranial bones within a concretion, representing the first crocodyliform from the Chorrillo Formation.
• Researchers estimate a length of about 3–3.5 meters and a mass near 250 kilograms, with a high, broad snout, deep adductor chamber, robust forelimbs, and large serrated teeth consistent with hypercarnivory.
• Phylogenetic analysis places the species within Peirosauridae and closely related to late‑Cretaceous broad‑snouted forms from Patagonia and Madagascar, extending Gondwanan records for this clade.
• The team interprets Kostensuchus as an apex or near‑apex predator whose prey likely included medium‑sized dinosaurs, refining end‑Cretaceous ecosystem reconstructions in southern Patagonia while locomotor details remain uncertain due to incomplete hindlimbs.