Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Lewisuchus
"Lewis's crocodile"
- Lived
- 237 to 233 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Silesauridae
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Romer 1972
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
240 million years ago
Field notes
About Lewisuchus
What it was like
Lewisuchus was a small, slender reptile about the size of a large lizard, one of the closest known relatives of the dinosaurs. It belongs to the silesaurids, a group that some scientists place among the earliest dinosaurs and others place just outside them.
Its world
It lived in the Triassic in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Chañares Formation, which holds many early relatives of dinosaurs.
How it was found
Romer named Lewisuchus in 1972. Despite its name, it was not a crocodile.
Close relatives
Other members of Silesauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: A. S. Romer. 1972. The Chañares (Argentina) Triassic reptile fauna; XIV, Lewisuchus admixtus, gen. et sp. nov., a further thecodont from the Chañares beds. Breviora 390:1-13