Caipirasuchus

Caipirasuchus is an extinct genus of sphagesaurid notosuchians known from the Late Cretaceous of northern São Paulo State and western Minas Gerais State, southeastern Brazil. The type species, C. paulistanus, was named in 2011. A second species, C. montealtensis, was referred to Caipirasuchus in 2013 after having been named in 2008 as a species of Sphagesaurus. A third species, C. stenognathus, was described in 2014. A fourth species, C. mineirus, was described in 2018. A fifth species, C. attenboroughi, was named in 2021 in honour of David Attenborough, and a sixth species, C. catanduvensis, was described in 2024, with a distinct chamber associated with the airways, possibly used in vocalization.

Caipirasuchus

Diego Pol, Paulo M. Nascimento, Alberto B. Carvalho, Claudio Riccomini, Ricardo A. Pires-Domingues, Hussam Zaher · CC BY 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CaipirasuchinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 28 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 93.9 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 7 of 7 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 7 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94.5 Mya65.4 Mya

7 occurrences of Caipirasuchus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

7 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Adamantina — 21.28°S, 48.48°WAdamantina — 21.22°S, 48.51°WAdamantina — 21.13°S, 49.01°WAdamantina — 20.57°S, 50.46°WAdamantina — 19.51°S, 50.11°WSanto Anastácio — 20.62°S, 50.52°W

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The named rock units Caipirasuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Caipirasuchus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Caipirasuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

4 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Caipirasuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 7 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Caipirasuchus

Credit
Diego Pol, Paulo M. Nascimento, Alberto B. Carvalho, Claudio Riccomini, Ricardo A. Pires-Domingues, Hussam Zaher
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Caipirasuchus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCaipirasuchinae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Iori and Carvalho 2011