page_title: Prionosuchus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Prionosuchus / Description
context_page_description: Prionosuchus is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl. A single species, P. plummeri, is recognized from the early Permian period. Its fossils have been found in what is now northeastern Brazil.
context_section_description: The fragmentary remains of this animal have been found in the Pedra do Fogo Formation in the Parnaíba Basin of Northeastern Brazil, and it was described by L.I. Price in 1948. The incomplete skull of the holotype specimen has been estimated to be 50 centimetres (20 in) long. Several more fragmentary specimens have been found. One very fragmentary but very large specimen (BMNH R12005) appears to have come from an individual nearly three times the size of most other specimens, and may have had a skull that measured up to 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) long. Based on related species, the total body length of this specimen has been estimated at about 9 metres (30 ft), making it the largest known species of temnospondyl. The average mass of an adult Prionosuchus is estimated at over 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb).
  With an elongated and tapered snout, numerous sharp teeth, long body, short legs, and a tail adapted for swimming, its general appearance was very similar to a modern gharial or gar, and it probably had a similar lifestyle as an ambush aquatic predator feeding on fish and other aquatic animals. A study on the closely related Archegosaurus shows that it had a heat balance, gas exchange, osmoregulation, and digestion more similar to that of fish than modern aquatic amphibians; the same probably applied to Prionosuchus as well.
caption: Size of the holotype specimen (green) and largest known specimen (gray) relative to a human