Overview
- The formal description appears in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2025.2573750), detailing anatomy and evolutionary placement.
- Fossils were excavated in May 2025 near Dona Francisca in southern Brazil and preserve parts of the lower jaw, cervical and dorsal vertebrae, an ilium, and protective osteoderms.
- Researchers estimate a body length of about 2.4 meters and mass near 60 kilograms, with a long neck and recurved teeth consistent with fast, precision hunting.
- Phylogenetic analyses place the animal among poposauroid pseudosuchians with close affinities to Mandasuchus from Tanzania, reinforcing faunal connections across Gondwana.
- The specimen is partial and lacks limbs, leading scientists to infer quadrupedal movement from related taxa, and its discovery broadens the sparse South American record of Middle Triassic pseudosuchians.