A quarter of a billion years ago nearly all life on Earth vanished in a cataclysmic event known today as “the Great Dying.”

This small skull with serrated teeth belongs to an ancient reptile that survived the extermination and colonized a nearly empty world. Its relatives evolved into the dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds that dominated the land for the next 180 million years.

Called Teyujagua paradoxa, or “fierce lizard,” this species was recently discovered in Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil. The researchers who unearthed the skull published their findings Friday in the journal Scientific Reports.