The incomplete skull of Nicrosaurus (formerly “Belodon“), one of the earliest-recognized phytosaurs. It is missing teeth and it did not have an extended downward extension of the palate (the outline that extends below the upper jaw marked by the dotted line) like modern crocodiles. From A guide to the fossil reptiles and fishes in the Department of Geology and Palaeontology in the British Museum (Natural History).

On the occasion of our third anniversary my wife bought me one of my most favorite works of paleo-art; a scene from the late Triassic set in what is now Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park by Douglas Henderson. The painting is dominated by the gavial-like phytosaur Rutiodon, and seeing