page_title: Nicrosaurus
section_title: Discovery and environment
hierarchical_section_title: Nicrosaurus / Discovery and environment
caption_attribution_description: English: "Belodon" and Aetosaurus from Creatures of Other Days, 1894. England. The skull is based on Nicrosaurus kapffi, and the carapace on Paratypothorax andressorum.[1] Polski: Rekonstrukcja belodona z 1894 roku
context_page_description: Nicrosaurus is an extinct genus of phytosaur reptile existing during the Late Triassic period. Although it looked like a crocodile, it was not closely related to these creatures, instead being an example of parallel evolution. The main difference between Nicrosaurus and modern crocodiles is the position of the nostrils – Nicrosaurus's nostrils, or external nares, were placed directly in front of the forehead, whereas in crocodiles, the nostrils are positioned on the end of the snout. A 2013 study has also found that illium of Nicrosaurus is quite distinctive from all other phytosaurs.
  The genus was named by German paleontologist, Dr. Eberhard Fraas, in 1866, possibly after the Neckar river of southwestern Germany, near which it was found.
context_section_description: Species Nicrosaurus kapffi and the less commonly found Nicrosaurus meyeri occur in the Norian Stubensandstein of southwestern Germany, as well as from the Norian Arnstadt Formation. Since 1996, the collection for Nicrosaurus kapffi included five nearly complete skulls and four partial skulls.
  The Arnstadt Formation, or "Steinmergelkeuper", is primarily a lacustrine sedimentary succession of the Germanic Basin. The 100m thick Formation is divided into sediments of a playa lake system, cyclic sediments of freshwater to saline lake system, and sediments of a playa lake system with crevasse splay.
  Fossil discoveries in Germany were found in dry floodplain environments or fluvial lacustrine indet., where the environment was known to be associated with either rivers or lakes or both.
  An isolated tooth found in a bed among fish scales in the middle part of Arnstadt Formation in 2002 was attributed to Nicrosaurus. The rock in which the tooth and scales were found may suggest that a species of Nicrosaurus populated a swamp-like area that underwent periods of desiccation or fluctuations in salinity. Alternatively, the lone tooth may suggest that a scavenger fed on dead fish.
  If the lifestyle of Nicrosaurus is limited to land and freshwater swamps it makes sense that most of fossil specimens are found around the Germanic Basin.
caption: 1894 restoration of Belodon, based on the skull of N. kapffi and the carapace of Paratypothorax.
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