Skip to content
Category

Paraná Basin

page 1
Mesosaurus thumbnail
Mesosaurus
Mesosaurus (meaning "middle lizard") is an extinct genus of aquatic reptile from the late Early Permian (Kungurian, ~275 million years ago) of southern Africa and South America. It is the only member of the family Mesosauridae and order Mesosauria. Two other genera of mesosaurs, Brazilosaurus and Stereosternum, were formerly recognised, but are now considered synonyms of Mesosaurus. Mesosaurus contains a single valid species, M. tenuidens. Mesosaurus represents one of the earliest lineages of aquatically adapted reptiles. It had many adaptations to a fully aquatic lifestyle. Mesosaurus lived a
Glossopteris thumbnail
Glossopteris
Glossopteris (etymology: from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα, glôssa 'tongue' + πτερίς, pterís 'fern') is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed plants known as Glossopteridales (also known as Arberiales, Ottokariales, or Dictyopteridiales). The name Glossopteris refers only to leaves, within the framework of form genera used in paleobotany, used for leaves of plants belonging to the glossopterid family Dictyopteridiaceae.
Hyperodapedon thumbnail
Hyperodapedon
Hyperodapedon (from , 'above' and , 'pavement') is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur reptiles which lived during Late Triassic period. Like other rhynchosaurs, it was a heavily built archosauromorph, distantly related to archosaurs such as crocodilians and dinosaurs. Hyperodapedon in particular was part of the subfamily Hyperodapedontinae, a specialized rhynchosaurian subgroup with broad skulls, beaked snouts, and crushing tooth plates on the roof of the mouth.
Paraná grass mouse thumbnail
Paraná grass mouse
species of mammal
Dinodontosaurus
Dinodontosaurus (meaning "terrible-toothed lizard") is a genus of dicynodont therapsid. It was medium to large dicynodont of the Triassic (with skull up to long) and had a beak corneum. It lived in the Middle Triassic but disappeared in the Upper Triassic.
Caiuajara thumbnail
Caiuajara
Caiuajara is an extinct genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Aptian to Albian stages) of Brazil. It is known from a single type species, Caiuajara dobruskii.
Guarantaani Aquifer
second largest known aquifer system
Procolophon thumbnail
Procolophon
Procolophon (from , 'before' and , 'summit') is a genus of lizard-like procolophonid parareptiles that first appeared in the Early Triassic (Induan) of South Africa, Brazil, and Antarctica. It persisted through the Permian–Triassic extinction event, but went extinct in the beginning of the Early Middle Triassic.
Phoberomys thumbnail
Phoberomys
thumb | right | alt=A 10cm skull of Phoberomys pattersoni in ventral view | The skull of Phoberomys pattersoni Phoberomys is an extinct genus of rodents. Fossil specimens from the Late Miocene period have been discovered in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina, the Solimões Formation of Brazil, the Urumaco Formation at Urumaco in Venezuela, and the Pliocene of Peru.
Thanos simonattoi
species of reptile (fossil)
Megapiranha thumbnail
Megapiranha
Megapiranha is an extinct serrasalmid characin fish from the Late Miocene (8–10 million years ago) Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina, described in 2009. The type species is M. paranensis. It is thought to have been about in length and in weight. The holotype consists only of premaxillae and a zigzag tooth row; the rest of its body is unknown. This dentition is reminiscent of both the double-row seen in pacus, and the single row seen in the teeth of modern piranhas, suggesting that M. paranensis is a transitional form. Its bite force is estimated between .
Metaxytherium thumbnail
Metaxytherium
Metaxytherium is an extinct genus of dugong that lived from the Oligocene until the end of the Pliocene. Fossil remains have been found in Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Generally marine seagrass specialists, they inhabited the warm and shallow waters of the Paratethys, Mediterranean, Caribbean Sea and Pacific coastline. American species of Metaxytherium are considered to be ancestral to the North Pacific family Hydrodamalinae, which includes the giant Steller's sea cow.
Endothiodon thumbnail
Endothiodon
Endothiodon (/ɛndoʊθiːoʊdɔːn/ "inner tooth" from Greek endothi (ἔνδοθῐ), "within", and odon (ὀδών), "tooth", most likely named for the characteristic of the teeth being placed internally to the maxilla) is an extinct genus of medium to large dicynodont from the Late Permian. Like other dicynodonts, Endothiodon was an herbivore, but it typically lacked the two tusks that characterized most other dicynodonts and instead had long rows of teeth inset in the jaws that replaced in waves. The anterior portion of the upper and lower jaw are curved upward, creating a distinct beak that is thought to ha
Devincenzia thumbnail
Devincenzia
Devincenzia is an extinct genus of giant flightless predatory birds in the family Phorusrhacidae or "terror birds" that lived during the Early Miocene (Deseadan) Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Late Miocene (Huayquerian) Ituzaingó Formation, Early Pliocene (Montehermosan) of Argentina, and possibly the Early Pleistocene Raigón Formation of Uruguay. The type species D. pozzi was formerly known as Onactornis pozzi. The largest possible specimen weighed up to , making it one of the largest phorusrhacids and carnivorous birds known.
Konzhukovia thumbnail
Konzhukovia
Konzhukovia is an amphibian genus that belongs to an extinct family Konzhukoviidae of temnospondyls, the largest clade of basal tetrapods including about 198 genera, 292 species, and more than half of which were alive during the early Mesozoic period. The animal was a predator that lived about 260 million years ago, and could get up to about three meters in length. Specifically, Konzukovia lived during the Permian, between 252 and 270 million years ago according to the type of rock the fossil was found in. There are three species within this genus, K. vetusta, K. tarda, and K. sangabrielensis,
Protypotherium thumbnail
Protypotherium
Protypotherium is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of Protypotherium have been found in the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi and Nazareno Formations of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Aisol, Cerro Azul, Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.
Scarrittia thumbnail
Scarrittia
Scarrittia is an extinct genus of hoofed mammal of the family Leontiniidae, native to South America during the Late Oligocene epoch (Deseadan in the SALMA classification).
Tiarajudens thumbnail
Tiarajudens
Tiarajudens () ("Tiaraju tooth") is an extinct genus of saber-toothed herbivorous anomodonts which lived during the Middle Permian period (Capitanian stage) in what is now Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is known from the holotype UFRGS PV393P, a nearly complete skull. The type species T. eccentricus was named in 2011.
Paraná and Etendeka traps
large igneous province in South America and Africa
Panochthus
Panochthus is an extinct genus of glyptodont, which lived in the Gran Chaco-Pampean region of Argentina (Lujan, Yupoí and Agua Blanca Formations), Brazil (Jandaíra Formation), Bolivia (Tarija and Ñuapua Formations), Paraguay and Uruguay (Sopas and Dolores Formations) during the Pleistocene epoch. The first specimen of Panochthus consisted of two carapace (shell) fragments, now lost, recovered from Buenos Aires. In 1845, the fragments were referred by Sir Richard Owen to the genus Glyptodon. In 1864, working from more complete remains, Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister erected Panochthus as a subg
Cuenca del Paraná
large cratonic sedimentary basin situated in the central-eastern part of South America
Faxinalipterus minimus
Faxinalipterus is a genus of ornithodiran archosaur, originally described as a pterosaur, from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. A study from 2022 reinterpreted the fossil remains and instead suggests them to belong to a member of the Lagerpetidae, another clade of pterosauromorphs.
Prozostrodon brasiliensis
Prozostrodon is an extinct genus of probainognathian cynodonts that was closely related to mammals. The remains were found in Brazil and are dated to the Carnian age of the Late Triassic. The holotype has an estimated skull length of , indicating that the whole animal may have been the size of a cat. The teeth were typical of advanced cynodonts, and the animal was probably a carnivore hunting reptiles and other small prey.
Australerpeton
Australerpeton is an extinct genus of stereospondylomorph temnospondyl currently believed to belong to the family Rhinesuchidae. When first named in 1998, the genus was placed within the new family Australerpetontidae. However, studies published a few years later questioned the systematics used in the original description and included the genus within Archegosauridae. A study by Dias & Schultz (2003) reassigned Australerpeton to the family Rhinesuchidae within the suborder Stereospondyli based on an earlier evaluation of the family. In this study, the close similarities between Australerpeton
Brasilodon
Brasilodon ("tooth from Brazil") is an extinct genus of small, mammal-like cynodonts that lived in what is now Brazil during the Norian age of the Late Triassic epoch, about 225.42 million years ago. While no complete skeletons have been found, the length of Brasilodon has been estimated at . Its dentition shows that it was most likely an insectivore. The genus is monotypic, containing only the species B. quadrangularis. Brasilodon belongs to the family Brasilodontidae, whose members were some of the closest relatives of mammals, the only cynodonts alive today. Two other brasilodontid genera,
Pampaphoneus
Pampaphoneus is an extinct genus of carnivorous dinocephalian therapsid belonging to the family Anteosauridae. It lived 268 to 265 million years ago during the Wordian age of the Guadalupian (= middle Permian) period in what is now Brazil. Pampaphoneus is known by an almost complete skull with the lower jaw still articulated, discovered on the lands of the Boqueirão Farm, near the city of São Gabriel, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. A second specimen from the same locality was reported in 2019 and 2020 but has not yet been described. It is composed of a skull associated with postcranial rem
Triodus
thumb|left|Restoration of T. sesselensis
Theriodictis
Theriodictis is an extinct monotypic genus of cerdocyonine canid endemic to South America during the Middle Pleistocene.
Irajatherium
Irajatherium is an extinct genus of cynodonts, known only of the type species Irajatherium hernandezi. It is named in honor of Irajá Damiani Pinto.
Devil's Throat
part of the Iguazu falls
Riograndia
Riograndia is an extinct genus of prozostrodontian cynodonts from the Late Triassic of Brazil. The type and only species is Riograndia guaibensis, named after the State of Rio Grande do Sul and Guaíba Basin, where it was discovered. Remains have been found in the Caturrita Formation of the geopark of Paleorrota. It was a small non-mammalian cynodont, with several advanced features also present in mammals. Several specimens of Riograndia guaibensis have been found in the towns of Candelária and Faxinal do Soturno in the Caturrita Formation. The genus defines the Riograndia Assemblage Zone.
Irati Formation
geologic formation in Brazil
Neosclerocalyptus
Neosclerocalyptus is an extinct genus of glyptodont that lived during the Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene of Southern South America, mostly Argentina. It was small compared to many glyptodonts at only around 2 meters long and either 320 kilograms, or between 383 kg - 598 kg.
Caturrita Formation
geological formation in Brazil
Siriusgnathus
Siriusgnathus is a traversodontid cynodont from the Carnian channel sandstones and mudstones of the Candelária Formation, belonging to the Santa Maria Supersequence of the Paraná Basin in southeastern Brazil. It includes one species, Siriusgnathus niemeyerorum and was described in 2018. The species epithet refers to the Niemeyer locality in Agudo, Rio Grande do Sul. It was found together with various archosauromorphs, dinosauromorphs and other cynodonts, such as Brasilitherium riograndensis, Brasilodon quadrangularis, Irajatherium hernandezi and Prozostrodon brasiliensis.
Cheirophyllum
Cheirophyllum is an extinct plant genus that existed during the Permian.
Vista Alegre crater
meteorite crater in Paraná, Brazil
Rio do Rasto Formation thumbnail
Rio do Rasto Formation
geological formation in Brazil
Mangrullo Formation
formation in Uruguay
Paranauchenia denticulata
Paranauchenia is an extinct genus of South American litopterns belonging to the family Macraucheniidae. It is known only from fossil finds in Argentina. It possessed three toes and long limbs. The species Paranauchenia denticulata lived in the Miocene epoch in Argentina. Fossils have been found in the Arroyo Chasicó and Ituzaingó Formations of Argentina.
Arachana
Arachana is an extinct genus of rhinesuchid-like temnospondyl known from the Late Permian to Early Triassic Buena Vista Formation of northeastern Uruguay. Arachana was first named by Graciela Piñeiro, Alejandro Ramos and Claudia Marsicano in 2012 and the type species is A. nigra. It shares characteristics with both rhinesuchids and lydekkerinids, making it a transitional form between basal and more advanced stereospondyls.
Maehary
Maehary (meaning "one who looks to the sky" in Guaraní) is an extinct genus of gracilisuchid pseudosuchian archosaurs from the Late Triassic (Norian age) Caturrita Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The genus contains a single species, Maehary bonapartei, known from a partial skull and fragmentary postcrania. Maehary was originally described as the basalmost member of the Pterosauromorpha, but several subsequent studies have suggested pseudosuchian affinities are more likely. If this is correct, it would represent the youngest known member of the Gracilisuchidae.
Elessaurus
Elessaurus is an extinct genus of archosauromorph from the Early Triassic of Brazil. It contains a single species, Elessaurus gondwanoccidens. It possessed a variety of features common to basal archosauromorphs, particularly basal tanystropheids such as Macrocnemus. However, it is uncertain whether Elessaurus was a particularly close relative of tanystropheids, and it might instead be closer to other major archosauromorph clades. The genus name refers to "Elessar", an alternate name of the character Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Chiropteris thumbnail
Chiropteris
Chiropteris is an extinct genus of plants that existed from the Early Permian (Sakmarian stage) to the Late Jurassic (?Oxfordian stage, maybe latter).