''Brazilosaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

mesosaur Mesosaurs ("middle lizards") were a group of small aquatic reptiles that lived during the early Permian period, roughly 299 to 270 million years ago. Mesosaurs were the first known aquatic reptiles, having apparently returned to an aquatic life ...

which lived during the early

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

( Artinskian stage) of what is now

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It is known from specimen BSPG 1965 I 131, a single

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

recovered from the Assistencia Member of the

Irati Formation Irati Formation is the name of a geological formation of the Paraná Basin in Brazil. It has previously been dated as Late Permian using palynomorphs, but is now dated as Early Permian using zircon ages obtained from bentonite layers. The base of ...

( Hanayama Farm,

Tatuí Tatuí is a city located in São Paulo state, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba. The population is 122,967 (2020 est.) in an area of 523.75 km2. Known as "Music City", the city has the largest music school in Latin Am ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

), in the Paraná Basin. It was named by T. Shikama and H. Ozaki in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis''. ''Brazilosaurus'' is not to be confused with the

archosaur Archosauria () is a clade of diapsids, with birds and crocodilians as the only living representatives. Archosaurs are broadly classified as reptiles, in the cladistic sense of the term which includes birds. Extinct archosaurs include non-avian d ...

Brasileosaurus ''Brasileosaurus'' (meaning "Brazil lizard") is a genus of notosuchid notosuchian from the Late Cretaceous Adamantina Formation of Brazil. The type species is ''B. pachecoi'', discovered by the Brazilian Eng. Joviano Pacheco and described by th ...

''.

References

Parareptiles Prehistoric reptile genera Prehistoric marine reptiles Permian reptiles of South America Permian Brazil Fossils of Brazil Paraná Basin Fossil taxa described in 1966 {{permian-reptile-stub