Description

Late Triassic

Chinle Formation

Santa Fe County, NM, USA

Good 0.6 inch spatulate tooth with nice serrations.

Reptile, Phytosaur.

Rutiodon is a genus of phytosaur, a group of crocodile-like archosaurs.  It lived in parts of North America during the latter part of the Triassic Period.   Some individuals were larger than any crocodile living today, exceeding 25 feet in length.

Phytosaurs died out during the end-Triassic mass extinction.

This is a tooth from towards the back of the jaw.