Rutiodon

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Rutiodon Fossil range: Late Triassic
restoration of Rutiodon carolinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida (unranked) Archosauria Order: Phytosauria Family: Phytosauridae Genus: Rutiodon Emmons, 1856
Synonyms
Rhytiodon Cope, 1856 (lapsus) Palaeonornis Emmons, 1857 Rhytidodon Cope, 1866 (lapsus) Rhytidiodon Cope, 1866 (lapsus) Metarhinus Jaekel, 1910 non Osborn, 1908 (preoccupied) Rhytiodin Mehl, 1915 (lapsus) Machaeroprosopus Mehl, Toepelmann & Schwartz, 1916 Machaeororosopus Gregory, 1962 (lapsus)

Rutiodon is an extinct genus of archosaur belonging to the family Phytosauridae. It lived during the Late Triassic Period, and was up to 3 meters (10 ft) long.

Like other phytosaurs, Rutiodon strongly resembled a crocodile, with the only exception being that its nostrils were positioned close to the eyes. Due to its enlarged front teeth, it most closely resembled the gharial^{[citation needed]}. It probably caught fish and also snatched land animals from the waterside.It was an ambush predator. The animal is known from fossils in Europe (Germany and Switzerland) as well as North America (Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas). Its tail was covered with armour.

[edit] In popular culture

Rutiodon is one of the best-known phytosaurs and appeared in the 2001 Discovery Channel documentary When Dinosaurs Roamed America, shown hunting Coelophysis.

[edit] Sources

• Geological report of the midland counties of North Carolina by Ebenezer Emmons. New York, G.P. Putnam & Co.; Raleigh, H.D. Turner, 1856.
• Rutiodon in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ's Lair.
• http://www.paleodirect.com/phyto1.htm
• http://www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com/NewBlood.html