Description

Rutiodon sp.
Reptile
Late Triassic
Bull Canyon Formation
San Miguel County, New Mexico, USA

Fine 0.6 inch tooth

Rutiodon was a phytosaur, a group of crocodile-like archosaurs.  The fast way to tell their skulls apart is that crocodilians have their nasal opening at the end of their snouts while phytosaurs have theirs just in front of their eyes.  Some species were larger than any crocodile living today, exceeding 25 feet in length.  The group disappeared during the end-Triassic mass extinction.