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Description
Final, very speculative reconstruction of the obscure Late Triassic phytosaur Brachysuchus megalodon. It was a very large (8m, or 26 feet long) animal most closely related to the better-known Angistorhinus. Unlike Angistorhinus and other close relatives however, the 125cm-long skull of Brachysuchus is much broader, shorter & deeper, giving it an incredibly strong bite that may have allowed it to prey on armored aetosaurs. There are no other reconstructions of this genus that I'm aware of, and the only fossil specimen I could find a photo of was the holotype skull: umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/wp/wp… . The rest of the body is sort of a speculative, generalized phytosaur body plan loosely based on Scott Hartman's Paleorhinus skeletal . On top of this, I bulked up the limbs a bit to suit its hypothesized terrestrial habits and had the underbelly sag a bit, which happens when living crocodiles, alligators and even monitor lizards "high walk" like phytosaurs did.
All of the integument save for the dorsal osteoderms is speculative; phytosaurs apparently had a gular shield, aka a basket-like covering of the neck made up of rows of polygonal osteoderms. I kind of interpreted that as best I could, without being able to find any good reference images or diagrams. For the rest of the integument (especially the head), I was going for an intermediate between turtles and crocodilians.
I wanted to keep the coloration relatively simple, and I think this would be fitting for a terrestrial predator of somewhat slow-moving herbivores like aetosaurs. It lived in an environment that was likely very similar to the Chinle Formation, so this would allow it to camouflage well amongst the vegetation both in and out of the water.
I personally prefer the appearance of phytosaurs to modern crocodilians; something about their drastic reduction in jaw depth (they go from "allosaur" to "spinosaur" very quickly as you move down the snout), huge mound-like nasal areas, blowhole-esque nostrils, and high eyes give off a very primal, alien vibe.

References:
www.deviantart.com/scotthartma…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachysu…
blogs.scientificamerican.com/t…
blogs.scientificamerican.com/t…

Description
Final, very speculative reconstruction of the obscure Late Triassic phytosaur Brachysuchus megalodon. It was a very large (8m, or 26 feet long) animal most closely related to the better-known Angistorhinus. Unlike Angistorhinus and other close relatives however, the 125cm-long skull of Brachysuchus is much broader, shorter & deeper, giving it an incredibly strong bite that may have allowed it to prey on armored aetosaurs. There are no other reconstructions of this genus that I'm aware of, and the only fossil specimen I could find a photo of was the holotype skull: umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/wp/wp… . The rest of the body is sort of a speculative, generalized phytosaur body plan loosely based on Scott Hartman's Paleorhinus skeletal . On top of this, I bulked up the limbs a bit to suit its hypothesized terrestrial habits and had the underbelly sag a bit, which happens when living crocodiles, alligators and even monitor lizards "high walk" like phytosaurs did.
All of the integument save for the dorsal osteoderms is speculative; phytosaurs apparently had a gular shield, aka a basket-like covering of the neck made up of rows of polygonal osteoderms. I kind of interpreted that as best I could, without being able to find any good reference images or diagrams. For the rest of the integument (especially the head), I was going for an intermediate between turtles and crocodilians.
I wanted to keep the coloration relatively simple, and I think this would be fitting for a terrestrial predator of somewhat slow-moving herbivores like aetosaurs. It lived in an environment that was likely very similar to the Chinle Formation, so this would allow it to camouflage well amongst the vegetation both in and out of the water.
I personally prefer the appearance of phytosaurs to modern crocodilians; something about their drastic reduction in jaw depth (they go from "allosaur" to "spinosaur" very quickly as you move down the snout), huge mound-like nasal areas, blowhole-esque nostrils, and high eyes give off a very primal, alien vibe.

References:
www.deviantart.com/scotthartma…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachysu…
blogs.scientificamerican.com/t…
blogs.scientificamerican.com/t…