Saurosuchus (meaning "lizard crocodile") is an extinct genus of large loricatan pseudosuchian archosaurs that lived in South America during the Late Triassic period.

[1] The holotype, PVL 206, was discovered by Galileo J. Scaglia and Leocadio Soria in 1957, lying in a greenish sandstone on the Cancha de Bochas Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina.

[4] Saurosuchus was also reported from the Chinle Formation of Arizona in 2002 on the basis of isolated teeth and small skull fragments.

Ridges along the upper surface of the supraoccipital bone at the back of the skull are attachment points for strong neck ligaments.

The cladogram below follows a simplified version of the strict reduced consensus tree by Desojo et al. (2020):[11] Avemetatarsalia Ornithosuchidae Revueltosaurus Aetosauria Gracilisuchidae Ticinosuchus Mandasuchus Poposauroidea Pagosvenator Saurosuchus Prestosuchus Batrachotomus Fasolasuchus Rauisuchus Polonosuchus Postosuchus Crocodylomorpha Analysis of Saurosuchus' bite indicated that its jaws were relatively weak, as determined in a study by Bestwick et al., in 2023.

Its bite force was estimated to have been around 1,015–1,885 N (104–192 kgf; 228–424 lbf), similar to that of modern gharials in regards to strength, due to its relatively thinner bones compared to those of the theropod dinosaurs that would later supplant it, suggesting that Saurosuchus would feed largely on softer food such as flesh and vital organs from its prey, which it would process with its rear teeth.

[12][8] A reconstruction of the cranial endocast revealed large olfactory bulbs, poorly developed flocculus and optic lobes, and an anteroposteriorly short lateral semicircular canal, suggesting that Saurosuchus would have relied on smell instead of eyesight to track prey over long distances or at night, and that it would not have been a particularly agile predator.

[13][9] A hypertrophied hypophysis has also been reported for Saurosuchus, which may be correlated with large size and possibly rapid growth rates, as observed in the majority of other "rauisuchians" based on bone microstructure.

Notable paleofauna that were contemporaneous with Saurosuchus in the Cancha de Bochas Member include: Hyperodapedon, Exaeretodon, Herrerasaurus, Sillosuchus, Eoraptor, Trialestes, Aetosauroides, and Ischigualastia.