Shansisuchus

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Shansisuchus Fossil range: mid Triassic
Shansisuchus shansisuchus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Infraclass: Archosauromorpha Family: Erythrosuchidae Genus: Shansisuchus
Binomial name
Shansisuchus shansisuchus Young, 1964

Shansisuchus (means 'crocodile from the Shansi Province') was an erythrosuchid, a type of carnivorous prehistoric reptile that lived some 220 million years ago during the middle Triassic Period in what is now Shansi Province in China. Early meat eaters such as Shansisuchus ruled the land many millions of years before the first dinosaurs appeared. They belonged to the successful group of reptiles known as archosauromorphs, ancestors of the earliest true archosaurs.

Although 2.2 m long and 0.5 m tall Shansisuchus was a fierce hunter with powerfully developed jaws. It is believed that it could move quite quickly for its size and fed on smaller less agile reptiles around at the time.