Ornithosuchus

Graphical reconstruction of Ornithosuchus live with his prey Hyperodapedon

• Scotland ( Lossiemouth - Sandstone Formation)

• Ornithosuchus longidens

Ornithosuchus is an extinct genus of archosaurs. She is the namesake for the Ornithosuchidae, a group of predatory living Crurotarsi that were distantly related to the crocodiles. Fossils were found in the Lossiemouth - Sandstone Formation in Scotland and in 1877 first described by Thomas Huxley as Dasygnathus. Type species and only currently recognized species is Ornithosuchus longidens. Previously, two other species have been recognized - Ornithosuchus taylori and Ornithosuchus woodwardi. Walker ( 1964) however showed that these species are the same as the type species Ornithosuchus longidens. The specimens found are poorly preserved.

Features

Ornithosuchus probably reached a length of 0.5 to 3 meters. The body was slim. The long hind limbs of Ornithosuchus suggest that the animal could have both biped ( two-legged ) and could move quadruped.

System

Ornithosuchus is the eponymous representative of Ornithosuchidae. Besides Ornithosuchus Riojasuchus and Venaticosuchus are the only recognized genera of this family. The outer scheme of Ornithosuchidae is very controversial. According Brusatte et al. (2010) is the closest relative Revueltosaurus; these form the sister taxon of Rauisuchia.

Nesbitt (2011 ) holds the Ornithosuchidae for a basal ( primitive ) family of Pseudosuchia, a group within the Crurotarsi, which include a variety of extinct groups like the Rauisuchier and today's crocodiles. The sister taxon of Ornithosuchidae form the Suchia according to Nesbitt.

Cladogram by Nesbitt (2011):

Riojasuchus

Ornithosuchus

Gracilisuchus

Turfanosuchus

Revueltosaurus

Aetosauria

Ticinosuchus

Paracrocodylomorpha

Paleoecology

Fossils of Ornithosuchus are known from the Lossiemouth - Sandstone formation in Scotland. The fine-grained and bright sandstone is about 225 million years old. These sediments are fossil sand dunes; they were therefore not due to transport by water ( fluvial ), but deposited by wind transport ( aeolian ). Dominant herbivores ( plant eaters ) of the formation were the Rhynchosaurier Hyperodapedon and Aetosaurier Stagonolepis. Ornithosuchus was probably the Spitzenprädator and the largest predators in this ecosystem, where Hyperodapedon and Stagonolepis probably fit into the prey schema. Smaller reptiles were the Procolophonide Leptopleuron, the Sphenodont Brachyrhinodon and the small archosaurs Scleromochlus that were probably hunted by young Ornithosuchus and the archosaurs Saltopus and Erpetosuchus.