Tainrakuasuchus bellator: The 8‑ft 'Warrior' Croc‑Relative That Roamed Earth 240 Million Years Ago

Not a dinosaur: a pre‑dinosaur crocodile‑relative named a 'warrior'

The newly described predator Tainrakuasuchus bellator — whose species name translates from Latin as “warrior” — was a large, meat‑eating reptile that lived roughly 240 million years ago during the Middle Triassic. Scientists recovered a partial skeleton in southern Brazil in May, including elements of the lower jaw, parts of the vertebral column, and fragments of the pelvic girdle, a study published this week in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology reports.

Researchers at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria estimate that T. bellator reached about 8 feet (≈2.4 m) in length and weighed roughly 130 pounds (≈60 kg). The fossils indicate its back bore osteoderms — bony plates similar to those of modern crocodilians — and its skull likely held inward‑curving, sharp teeth that would have helped it seize prey.

Relatively agile and long‑necked for its group, T. bellator belonged to the crocodile line of archosaurs within the larger clade Pseudosuchia. During the Middle Triassic, crocodile‑line archosaurs diversified into many unusual forms and ecological roles: some were large hunters, others were small, fast predators adapted to chasing swift prey. The study notes that pseudosuchian fossils have been found worldwide, indicating broad early diversity.

“This discovery shows that, in what is now southern Brazil, reptiles had already formed diverse communities adapted to various survival strategies. Moreover, this discovery reveals that such diversity was not an isolated phenomenon,”

— Rodrigo Temp Müller, study co‑author, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria

Phylogenetic analysis places T. bellator as closely related to Mandasuchus tanyauchen, a crocodile‑line archosaur known from Tanzania. About 240 million years ago the continents were united within the supercontinent Pangaea, allowing related species to inhabit wide, connected ranges; fossil links between distant regions are therefore expected.

Fossils of many pseudosuchian lineages remain rare, and the authors caution that discoveries like T. bellator are important for filling gaps in the early evolutionary history of crocodile relatives. Although many pseudosuchians went extinct around the Triassic–Jurassic boundary (~200 million years ago), modern crocodilians serve as living reminders of once‑dominant, ferocious predators.

Why it matters: The find expands our understanding of Triassic ecosystems and shows that diverse reptile communities with varied survival strategies were already established in Gondwana before dinosaurs became globally dominant.