Nutrition

           Phytosaurs were definitely carnivorous, evident by their heterodonty.  Smilosuchus would have been a top predator given its size, growing to 12 meters long, making it the largest animal during the Triassic (Palaeos, 2013).  They were generalists and had a presumable wide range of prey.  Stomach contents found in a Parasuchus hislopi included a partial rhynchosaur and a “prolacertiform” Malerisaurus (Stocker and Butler, 2013).  The lack of definitive findings on interactions with other species, as with most other unknown aspects of phytosaur life, paleontologists compare phytosaurs to modern and extant crocodiles.