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Description
At the Early Oligocene site of Cabeza Blanca, Argentina, the dominant mid-sized carnivore was the 5m Baurusuchid Carlinisuchus. An ambush hunter with a proportionally large skull complete with ziphodont teeth, fossil finds, although quite rare, suggest that the animal inhabited more heavily forested areas of the semi-arid Chubut province. There it would have lurked in the undergrowth, readying it's chance to lunge out and seize potential prey. Victims would have included Elasmarian Ornithopods, smaller Notosuchians, juvenile Hadrosaurs and the flightless Patagopterygiformes. These Ornithuromorphs originated in the Late Cretaceous as small, chicken-sized cursorial foragers and appear to have remained as such during the Paleocene and Eocene. Their remains are very rare and fragmentary until the Late Eocene, when drying environmental conditions began to take hold in South America, conditions that were clearly favourable to these animals. At Cabeza Blanca, five or so genera have been named and ranged from quail to emu-sized. The largest was the genus Notogrus, a cursorial generalist omnivore that stood up to 1.7m tall and likely fed on fruit, seeds, grasses and the occasional small animal. Patagopterygiformes would continue to diversify during the Oligocene, reaching their apex during the Miocene when they filled a variety of Ornithomimosaur-like niches on the continent.

Description
At the Early Oligocene site of Cabeza Blanca, Argentina, the dominant mid-sized carnivore was the 5m Baurusuchid Carlinisuchus. An ambush hunter with a proportionally large skull complete with ziphodont teeth, fossil finds, although quite rare, suggest that the animal inhabited more heavily forested areas of the semi-arid Chubut province. There it would have lurked in the undergrowth, readying it's chance to lunge out and seize potential prey. Victims would have included Elasmarian Ornithopods, smaller Notosuchians, juvenile Hadrosaurs and the flightless Patagopterygiformes. These Ornithuromorphs originated in the Late Cretaceous as small, chicken-sized cursorial foragers and appear to have remained as such during the Paleocene and Eocene. Their remains are very rare and fragmentary until the Late Eocene, when drying environmental conditions began to take hold in South America, conditions that were clearly favourable to these animals. At Cabeza Blanca, five or so genera have been named and ranged from quail to emu-sized. The largest was the genus Notogrus, a cursorial generalist omnivore that stood up to 1.7m tall and likely fed on fruit, seeds, grasses and the occasional small animal. Patagopterygiformes would continue to diversify during the Oligocene, reaching their apex during the Miocene when they filled a variety of Ornithomimosaur-like niches on the continent.