Jaikosuchus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of archosauriform

Archosauriformes

Archosauriformes is a clade of diapsid reptiles that developed from archosauromorph ancestors some time in the Late Permian...

 that is likely an erythrosuchid

Erythrosuchidae

Erythrosuchidae are a family of large basal archosauromorph carnivores that lived from the later Early Triassic to the early Middle Triassic . Their fossil remains are known so far from South Africa , the Perm region of Russia, and China...

. Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s have been found from European Russia

European Russia

European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...

 that date back to the upper Olenekian

Olenekian

In the geologic timescale, the Olenekian is an age in the Early Triassic epoch or a stage in the Lower Triassic series. It spans the time between 249.7 ± 0.7 Ma and 245 ± 0.7 Ma . The Olenekian follows the Induan and is followed by the Anisian.The Olenekian saw the deposition of a large part of the...

 stage of the Early Triassic

Early Triassic

The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251 ± 0.4 Ma and 245 ± 1.5 Ma . Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic, which is a unit in chronostratigraphy...

. The genus is quite poorly known, however, and the remains of other erythrosuchids that are also from the Early Triassic of European Russia such as Garjainia are much more common. The genus was originally assigned as a new species of the proterosuchid

Proterosuchidae

Proterosuchidae is an early, possibly paraphyletic, assemblage of basal archosauriformes whose fossils are known from the Latest Permian of Russia and the Early Triassic of southern Africa, Russia, China, Australia, and Antarctica...

 Chasmatosuchus

Chasmatosuchus

Not to be confused with Chasmatosaurus.Chasmatosuchus was a large archosauriform reptile from the early Triassic period of South Africa and China. It is one of the earliest well-known archosauriforms. It was over 6 ft long and is thought to have behaved like a modern crocodile...

in 1979, but was later put in its own genus in 1990. It has often been described as a rauisuchia

Rauisuchia

Rauisuchia is a group of predatory and mostly large Triassic archosaurs. As a clade, Rauisuchia includes these Triassic forms and all crocodylomorphs, which are descendants of Triassic rauisuchians. The group in its traditional sense is paraphyletic, because it does not include crocodylomorph...

n or a basal suchia

Suchia

Suchia is a clade of archosaurs that includes all pseudosuchians except ornithosuchids. It includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives. Paul Sereno defined Suchia as the least inclusive clade containing Aetosaurus ferratus, Rauisuchus tiradentes, Prestosuchus chiniquensis, Gracilisuchus...

n closely related to rauisuchians rather than the more traditional view of it being a more primitive archosaur. Despite this, its exact classification within Archosauriformes remains uncertain.