Postosuchus

Postosuchus, meaning "Crocodile from Post", is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, P. kirkpatricki and P. alisonae, that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. Postosuchus is a member of the clade Pseudosuchia, the lineage of archosaurs that includes modern crocodilians (the other main group of archosaurs is Avemetatarsalia, the lineage that includes all archosaurs more closely related to birds than to crocodilians). Its name refers to Post Quarry, a place in Texas where many fossils of the type species, P. kirkpatricki, were found. It was one of the apex predators of its area during the Triassic, larger than the small dinosaur predators of its time (such as Coelophysis). It was a hunter that probably preyed on large, bulky herbivores such as dicynodonts and many other creatures smaller than itself (such as early dinosaurs).

The skeleton of Postosuchus is large and robust, with a deep skull and a long tail. It was a large animal, up to 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long or even more. The extreme shortness of the fore limbs relative to the hind limbs, the very small fore paws, and measurements of the vertebrae suggest that Postosuchus may have been committed to bipedal locomotion.