Paleontologists have identified a new species of ancient reptile, Labrujasuchus expectatus, from fossils unearthed at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. Living 212 million years ago during the Late Triassic, this animal walked on two legs, had a toothless beak, and bore a striking resemblance to small theropod dinosaurs—despite not being a dinosaur at all. Instead, it belongs to the shuvosaurids, a group of archosaurs more closely related to modern crocodiles and alligators.

The discovery highlights a remarkable case of convergent evolution, where distantly related species independently evolve similar traits. Labrujasuchus developed its dinosaur-like body plan over 100 million years before ornithomimosaurs, a Cretaceous dinosaur group with the same form, suggesting that certain ecological roles favor specific anatomical designs. This challenges the idea that major body plans evolve only once within a lineage.

Found in the Hayden Quarry, part of a long-term excavation by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Ghost Ranch, the fossil fills a gap between earlier and later shuvosaur species. The name Labrujasuchus combines 'Ranchos de los Brujos' (Ranch of the Witches) and the Greek word for crocodile, reflecting its discovery site. The species name expectatus refers to the long-expected intermediate form scientists predicted would be found. The find underscores how the Triassic period was a time of broad evolutionary experimentation among reptiles, with many unusual body plans emerging before dinosaurs became dominant.