Abstract

A skull and mandible of a new species of notosuchian, Caipirasuchus paulistanus, belonging to the Sphagesauridae, were discovered in the rocks of the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Basin: Late Cretaceous). The main autapomorphies are external naris bordered only by premaxillae; very high pterygoids and ectopterygoids; palatines contacting maxillae by a cuneiform process; well-developed oval antorbital fenestra; premaxilla with four teeth; dentary with ten teeth and two diastemata; and one diastema in the premaxilla and another between the fourth alveolus of the premaxilla and the first of the maxilla. Morphological analysis and experimental data suggest an animal with a powerful bite and a dentition with specific regions of action, one adapted to apprehension and the other to food processing.