Fasolasuchus

Live reconstruction of Fasolasuchus

• Los Colorados Formation ( Argentina)

• Fasolasuchus tenax

Fasolasuchus is an extinct genus of Loricata from the group of Crurotarsi. Fossils date from the Argentine Los Colorados Formation, and are dated to the Late Triassic. The first Fund ( holotype, specimen number PVL 3850 ) was scientifically described in 1981 by the Argentine paleontologist José Fernando Bonaparte. The only way is Fasolasuchus tenax.

Features

The size of the limbs and the upper jaw suggest that Fasolasuchus was one of the largest Crurotarsi the Triassic and probably reached a length of 8 to 10 meters. The spine was due to additional mechanical fasteners ( Hyposphen - Hypantrum connections) stiffened, which can be observed in other Rauisuchia and the lizards Beck dinosaurs ( Saurischia ).

System

The exact systematic position of Fasolasuchus is not released. The relationship analysis by Stephen Brusatte et al. (2010 ) showed that Fasolasuchus forms a clade together with Ticinosuchus, Stagonosuchus and Arganasuchus. The sister taxon of this clade includes the Prestosuchidae ( Saurosuchus, Batrachotomus and Prestosuchus ) and the Rauisuchidae ( Tikisuchus, Teratosaurus, Rauisuchus and Postosuchus ). These two, of Brusatte et al. not specifically designated clades together form the body designated as Rauisuchoidea group within the Rauisuchia. The investigations Nesbitt (2011) According to the Rauisuchia are paraphyletic, ie share no recent common ancestor. Fasolasuchus has taken on a basal position within a clade designated as Loricata, which includes today's crocodiles. The sister taxon of Fasolasuchus is an unnamed group that contains the Rauisuchidae and Crocodylomorpha. These relationships are shown in the following cladogram ( Nesbitt, 2011):

Poposauroidea

Prestosuchus

Saurosuchus

Batrachotomus

Fasolasuchus

Rauisuchidae

Crocodylomorpha