biology

Rukwasuchus

Rukwasuchus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rukwasuchus rather than just read about it. In short: Rukwasuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodyliforms known from the Late Cretaceous Galula Formation of southwestern Tanzania. Only a limited number of fossils are known, including parts of the skull and a few isolated teeth, however the preservation of the holotype meant that the endocast could be described in detail.

Key takeaways

Rukwasuchus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rukwasuchus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rukwasuchus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rukwasuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodyliforms known from the Late Cretaceous Galula Formation of southwestern Tanzania. Only a limited number of fossils are known, including parts of the skull and a few isolated teeth, however the preservation of the holotype meant that the endocast could be described in detail. Phylogenetic analysis generally recover Rukwasuchus as being a member of the clade Peirosauria, either within Peirosauridae as originally proposed or more recently as a basal member of the family Itasuchidae, the members of which are sometimes also placed within Peirosauridae as the subfamily Pepesuchinae. Rukwasuchus inhabitet what is now Tanzania during the Cenomanian to Campanian, at which point the region was covered by an extensive braided river system. While several purportedly closely related forms have been interpreted as semi-aquatic, some features of the brain of Rukwasuchus may indicate more terrestrial habits. The genus is monotypic, it contains only a single species, Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu.

History and naming Rukwasuchus is known from its holotype, RRBP 08630, a well-preserved rear part of the skull including the cranial table, braincase, and interorbital region lacking the rostrum, the front portion of the palate, both lacrimals, jugals, and quadratojugals, as well as the mandible. RRBP 08630 was collected during 2008 at Namba 2 locality (also known as RRBP 2007-02), together with the titanosaurian Rukwatitan bisepultus which is exclusive to this locality. Material referred to Rukwasuchus includes four isolated teeth, which came from the neighboring localities RRBP 2007-01 yielding the 3 teeth RRBP 07351, 07369, 09362, and RRBP 2009-01 yielding the tooth RRBP 09367. All specimens came from approximately 25 km south of Lake Rukwa in the Galula Study Area, Rukwa Rift Basin of southwestern Tanzania, belonging to the Namba Member of the Galula Formation, which though initially interpreted as being late Aptian to early Cenomanian in age has more recently been regarded as dating to the Cenomanian to Campanian. Rukwasuchus was named by Joseph J. W. Sertich and Patrick M. O’Connor in 2014 and the type species is Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu. The generic name refers to Lake Rukwa and the Rukwa Rift Basin, located in southwestern Tanzania, where the holotype of Rukwasuchus and other vertebrates were collected by the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, and suchus, Latinized from the Greek souchos, an Egyptian crocodile god. The specific name yajabalijekundu is derived from the Swahili language meaning "of/from the red outcrop", in reference to the Red Sandstone Group deposits exposed at the basin.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rukwasuchus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rukwasuchus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rukwasuchus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rukwasuchus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rukwasuchus

In research: Rukwasuchus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rukwasuchus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rukwasuchus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cretaceous crocodylomorphs of Africa, Fossil taxa described in 2014, Fossils of Tanzania, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rukwasuchus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rukwasuchus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rukwasuchus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rukwasuchus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rukwasuchus in simple terms?

Why does Rukwasuchus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rukwasuchus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rukwasuchus.