Long before dinosaurs ruled the continents and modern crocodiles first appeared, their ancestors were already going through a decisive phase in their evolutionary history. It was in this ancient world, shortly after the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history that a new species of fossil reptile discovered in the interior of Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state.
Named Silescelida acristata, the species lived about 240 million years ago, during the Middle Triassic Period. The fossil was found in Dona Francisca, in central Rio Grande do Sul, in rocks that are part of the UNESCO Quarta Colônia Geopark.
