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Associated skeletons of a new middle Triassic “Rauisuchia” from Brazil

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Abstract

For more than 30 million years, in early Mesozoic Pangea, “rauisuchian” archosaurs were the apex predators in most terrestrial ecosystems, but their biology and evolutionary history remain poorly understood. We describe a new “rauisuchian” based on ten individuals found in a single locality from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) Santa Maria Formation of southern Brazil. Nine articulated and associated skeletons were discovered, three of which have nearly complete skulls. Along with sedimentological and taphonomic data, this suggests that those highly successful predators exhibited some kind of intraspecific interaction. Other monotaxic assemblages of Triassic archosaurs are Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) in age, approximately 10 million years younger than the material described here. Indeed, the studied assemblage may represent the earliest evidence of gregariousness among archosaurs, adding to our knowledge on the origin of a behavior pattern typical of extant taxa.

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Acknowledgments

The fossils described here were collected during the BID “Pró-1 Guaiba” project (to JF). Additional financial support was provided by FAPESP (scholarship 2007/54695-9, grant to MAGF; project 2009/54645-7, grant to MCL). We thank A. M. Ribeiro, curator at MCN FZB-RS, and Claudio Bartolaz (Museu Pde. Daniel Cargnin), who prepared part of the fossil material. Thanks also to C. L. Schultz (UFRGS), J. Powell (PVL), S. Martin (PULR), R. Martinez (PVSJ), and O. Rauhut (BPSG) for permission to examine specimens under their care. The authors thank D. Pol for comments on a previous version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Paleontologia de Ribeirão Preto, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14040-901, Brazil

    Marco Aurélio G. França & Max C. Langer

  2. Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Dr. Salvador França 1427, Porto Alegre, RS, 90.690-000, Brazil

    Jorge Ferigolo

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  1. Marco Aurélio G. França
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  2. Jorge Ferigolo
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  3. Max C. Langer
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Correspondence to Max C. Langer.

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Communicated by Robert Reisz

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França, M.A.G., Ferigolo, J. & Langer, M.C. Associated skeletons of a new middle Triassic “Rauisuchia” from Brazil. Naturwissenschaften 98, 389–395 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0782-3

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