Brazilian Theropod

Herrerasaurids make up some of the earliest dinosaurs and the earliest theropod dinosaurs as well. These small carnivorous bipeds are known for their agile appearances and small stature as well as their basal characteristics that laid the groundwork for their descendants, even some of the characteristics that can be found in the latest theropods like tyrannosaurids and abelisaurids. These characteristics were modified over time of course, but the changes can be traced back to these small herrerasaurid dinosaurs that have mostly be found in South America from a number of different locations. One of these locations, in Brazil, was the discovery site of an animal known as the "Southern Cross lizard", Staurikosaurus pricei. The specific epithet honors one of Brazil's first paleontologists, Llewellyn Ivor Price, who collected the fossil which was later described by Edwin H. Colbert. Staurikosaurus was Brazil's first discovered and described dinosaur, but has remained a very uncommon find, meaning that either it was not native to an area that allowed for easy fossilization (such as a forest) or was simply uncommon in its environment.

Staurikosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs and that makes its fossilized remains just as important in understanding the rise of dinosaurs as those of Herrerasaurus and other dinosaurs considered to be the first members of the dinosaur clade. Its long slender limbs appear to have been well equipped for running; forelimbs are missing from the fossil record so we do not know if was good at catching its prey. We do know that its jaw was filled with many serrated and recurved (curved toward the back of the skull) teeth, so it could have caught prey with its mouth rather than with hands. These teeth were also able to slice into its prey. As far as predators of the Late Triassic are concerned, Staurikosaurus was likely a fearsome foe for many smaller reptiles and mammals that it lived with.

©Nobu Tamura