page_title: Staurikosaurus
section_title: Paleoecology
hierarchical_section_title: Staurikosaurus / Paleoecology
caption_attribution_description: Português: Estauricossauro e Rincossauro no parque Floribal em Canela, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.
context_page_description: Staurikosaurus is a genus of herrerasaurid dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil, found in the Santa Maria Formation.
context_section_description: During the Late Triassic dinosaurs played only a minor role in terrestrial life; a fact that would change by the Early Jurassic. Staurikosaurus coexisted with large rauisuchian archosaurs like Saurosuchus, which were the top carnivores in their ecosystem Staurikosaurus's paleocommunity included medium- to large-sized herbivorous rhynchosaurs and dicynodonts. Medium-sized omnivorous aetosaurs and cynodonts were also present. Dinosaurs were represented by the Herrerasaurids, which include Staurikosaurus, and the basal sauropodomorph Saturnalia. The contemporaneous occurrence of basal theropods Staurikosaurus, Herrerasaurus, and Eoraptor with the ornithischian Pisanosaurus suggests that the main carnivorous and herbivorous lineages were established during the middle part of the Carnian stage. A U-Pb (uranium decay) dating found that the Santa Maria Formation dated around 233.23 million years ago, putting it 1.5 million years older than the Ischigualasto Formation, and making the two formations approximately equal as the earliest dinosaur localities.
caption: Staurikosaurus and rhynchosaur at Canela, Brazil
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