Vritramimosaurus 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 giant prolacertid prolacertiform

Prolacertiformes

Prolacertiformes were an order of archosauromorph reptiles that lived during the Permian and Triassic Periods...

. Compared to other members of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Prolacertidae, Vritramimosaurus was large and highly specialized. Fossils have been found from 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...

 deposits of the Rassypnaya locality in Orenburg Oblast

Orenburg Oblast

Orenburg Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkalov...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Rassypnaya is located on the Obshchy Syrt

Obshchy Syrt

Obshchy Syrt is a highland ridge, or plateau , in the european part of Russia. It starts north of Orenburg as a branch of the Ural Mountains and runs in a southwesterly direction to the east bank of the Volga River....

, a plateau in the European part of Russia that extends southwest of the Urals

Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...

 toward the Volga River

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

. Vritramimosaurus is similar to the later genus Malutinisuchus

Malutinisuchus

Malutinisuchus is an extinct genus of prolacertid prolacertiform. The genus was named in 1986 with the description of the type species M. gratus. Malutinisuchus is known from Ladinian-age Middle Triassic deposits in the Bukobay and Rassypnaya localities in Orenburg Oblast, Russia. In Russia,...

, also from Rassypnaya but present in Middle Triassic

Middle Triassic

In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided. It spans the time between 245 ± 1.5 Ma and 228 ± 2 Ma...

deposits.