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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