Theriosuchus

Theriosuchus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous
Fossil of T. pusillus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Neosuchia
Genus: Theriosuchus
Owen, 1879
Species
  • T. pusillus Owen, 1879 (type)
  • T. guimarotae Schwarz & Salisbury, 2005
  • T. grandinaris Lauprasert et al., 2011

Theriosuchus is an extinct genus of atoposaurid mesoeucrocodylian from the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of Europe (Portugal and southern England) and Southeast Asia (Thailand), with fragmentary records from Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sites in China, Morocco, and Scotland.[1]

Taxonomy

Skull elements of T. pusillus

Three valid species are currently recognized: Theriosuchus pusillus from southern England,[2] T. guimarotae from Portugal,[1][3] and T. grandinaris from Thailand.[4] Theriosuchus was previously assigned to Atoposauridae, but a 2016 cladistic analysis recovered it as a neosuchian more closely related to members of the family Paralligatoridae than to atoposaurids.[1]

Two species previously assigned to this genus, Theriosuchus ibericus[5] and T. symplesiodon,[6] have been re-assigned to the new genus Sabresuchus.[1]

Paleobiology

Fossils belonging to the genus are abundant at several European sites, namely Dorset, southern England.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jonathan P. Tennant; Philip D. Mannion; Paul Upchurch (2016). "Evolutionary relationships and systematics of Atoposauridae (Crocodylomorpha: Neosuchia): implications for the rise of Eusuchia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. in press.
  2. Owen, R. (1879). "Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations. Supplement IX, Crocodilia (Goniopholis, Brachydectes, Nannosuchus, Theriosuchus, and Nuthetes)". Palaeontographical Society of London Monograph. 33: 1–19.
  3. Schwarz, Daniela and Salisbury, Steven W. (2005). "A new species of Theriosuchus (Atoposauridae, Crocodylomorpha) from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Guimarota, Portugal". Geobios. 38 (6): 779–802. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2004.04.005. ISSN 0016-6995. PDF
  4. Komsorn Lauprasert; Chalida Laojumpon; Wanitchaphat Saenphala; Gilles Cuny; Kumthorn Thirakhupt; Varavudh Suteethorn (2011). "Atoposaurid crocodyliforms from the Khorat Group of Thailand: first record of Theriosuchus from Southeast Asia". Paläontologische Zeitschrift 85 (1): 37–47. doi:10.1007/s12542-010-0071-z.
  5. Brinkmann, W. (1992). "Die Krokodilier-Fauna aus der Unter-Kreide (Ober-Barremium) von Uña (Provinz Cuenca, Spanien)". Berliner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen (E). 5: 1–123.
  6. Jeremy Martin, Márton Rabi and Zoltán Csiki (2010). "Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania". Naturwissenschaften 97 (9): 845–854. doi:10.1007/s00114-010-0702-y. PMID 20711558.


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