| Shansisuchus Temporal range: Middle Triassic |
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|---|---|
| Shansisuchus shansisuchus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Family: | †Erythrosuchidae |
| Genus: | †Shansisuchus Young, 1964 |
| Species | |
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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[1] in what is now Shansi Province in China.
A meat eater, it belonged to the successful group of reptiles known as archosauromorphs, ancestors of the earliest true archosaurs. Although only 7.2 feet long and 1.6 feet 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.