South America

Calamopleurus

Calamopleurus was a 3 foot long freshwater fish which lived in Brazil and northern Africa during the early and middle Cretaceous Period approximately 130-95 million years ago. Calamopleurus belonged to a family called Amiidae. Today, the only surviving amiid is… Read More ›

Leedsichthys

Leedsichthys was a very large prehistoric saltwater fish which lived during the middle and late Jurassic Period, circa 165-150 million years ago. It was named in 1889 in honor of Alfred N. Leeds who found the first specimen. Leedsichthys belonged… Read More ›

Polyacrodus

Polyacrodus was a genus of prehistoric shark, composed of several species, with fossils found in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The name Polyacrodus means “tooth with many bumps”, and it was officially named by the German paleontologist… Read More ›

Arthropterygius

Arthropterygius, “jointed fin”, was a genus of ichthyosaur which lived in the Arctic Ocean during the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition period about 150 to 140 million years ago. Fossils of it have been found in Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia, and bones which… Read More ›

Gracilisuchus

Gracilisuchus, meaning “the slender crocodile”, was a 2-foot-long reptile which lived in South America during the middle of the Triassic Period. Its remains were discovered in northwestern Argentina within the rocks of the Chañares Formation, which are dated to about… Read More ›

Saurosuchus

Saurosuchus was a 20-foot pseudosuchian (a distant ancestor of crocodiles) which lived in Argentina during the middle Triassic Period about 230 million years ago. It was the largest carnivorous animal in its environment in terms of both length and weight,… Read More ›

Promastodonsaurus

This is Promastodonsaurus, literally meaning “before Mastodonsaurus”. Despite its saurian name, it was not a dinosaur, or even a reptile – it was actually a large amphibian. Fossils of Promastodonsaurus were found in Argentina within the rocks of the Ischigualasto… Read More ›