biology

Schultzsuchus

Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus rather than just read about it. In short: Schultzsuchus is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian from the Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Brazil. Initially described as a species of Prestosuchus, a 2024 study found the taxon to differ in multiple aspects of its anatomy, enough to warrant it being placed in a distinct genus.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Schultzsuchus is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian from the Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Brazil. Initially described as a species of Prestosuchus, a 2024 study found the taxon to differ in multiple aspects of its anatomy, enough to warrant it being placed in a distinct genus. Unlike Prestosuchus, which is a more derived member of Loricata, Schultzsuchus appears to have been a basal member of the clade Poposauroidea.

History and naming The remains of what is now called Schultzsuchus were first described under the name Prestosuchus loricatus by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1938, who had recovered the fossils of this pseudosuchian from the Cynodontier Sanga of the Santa Maria Supersequence in 1928/29 and regarded the animal as having been congeneric with Prestosuchus chiniquensis, also named by him. While Prestosuchus chiniquensis saw several additional finds attributed to it over the years, making it one of the best understood early pseudosuchians, P. loricatus received much less attention. This was in part due to the nature of the material, which consisted of a singular tooth crown, some vertebrae, elements of the hindlimbs as well as osteoderms. In 1942 von Huene tentatively referred some additional vertebrae and a calcaneum to this taxon, but he himself was uncertain of this assessment. The validity of P. loricatus eventually came into question, with several authors regarding this a possibility. Krebs (1976) and Barberena (1978) regarded the species to have probably been synonymous with P. chiniquensis, though Krebs remarked that a comprehensive study of the type material was required to tell for sure. Parrish (1993) seemed to follow this interpretation as well, combining material of both species interchangeably when scoring it for a phylogenetic analysis. Kischlat went further by arguing that the type material of P. loricatus actually belonged to two different animals, which he named Karamuru vorax and Abaporu loricatus. However, these names are regarded as somewhat problematic, as Abaporu loricatus was only mentioned a single time with no other occurrences of the name within the same publication. Furthermore, no formal proposition of a new generic name was made, no holotype was proposed and even the given specimen number is noted for being flawed according to Desojo and Rauhut. Ultimately, both Karamuru and Abaporu are regarded as nomina nuda. A thorough examination of the type material of Prestosuchus loricatus was eventually published by Desojo and Rauhut in 2024, who agreed with Kischlat (2023) in so far that the material did represent a taxon distinct from Prestosuchus, which they dubbed Schultzsuchus. Schultzsuchus was named in honor of Cesar Schultz, who was noted for his contributions to the understanding of the vertebrate fauna of the Santa Maria Supersequence.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schultzsuchus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus

In research: Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus 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: Schultzsuchus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fossil taxa described in 2024, Fossils of Brazil, Ladinian genera, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schultzsuchus in simple terms?

Why does Schultzsuchus 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 Schultzsuchus?

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 Schultzsuchus.