Comahuesuchidae

Comahuesuchidae
Temporal range: ?Early Cretaceous - Late Cretaceous
Reconstructed skeleton of Comahuesuchus brachybuccalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
(unranked): Mesoeucrocodylia
Suborder: Notosuchia
Family: Comahuesuchidae
Bonaparte, 1991
Genera

Comahuesuchidae is a family of notosuchian crocodyliforms. Constructed in 1991, it includes the genera Comahuesuchus and Anatosuchus. Among the characteristics that are unique to this family is an external naris that is inset into the tip of the snout. There is also a diastema, or gap between the teeth, at the tip of the upper and lower jaws. Both Anatosuchus and Comahuesuchus have maxillary tooth rows in the upper jaw that extend out and over the dentary tooth rows of the lower jaw.[1]

Several recent phylogenetic analyses of notosuchians have placed Anatosuchus outside of Notosuchia altogether, and therefore outside Comahuesuchidae. If this is true, Comahuesuchus would be the only member of Comahuesuchidae.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Sereno, P.C.; Sidor, C.A.; Larsson, H.C.E.; Gado, B. (2003). "A new notosuchian from the Early Cretaceous of Niger" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (2): 477–482. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2003)023[0477:ANNFTE]2.0.CO;2.
  2. ↑ Fiorelli, L. E.; Calvo, J. O. (2008). "New remains of Notosuchus terrestris Woodward, 1896 (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) from Late Cretaceous of Neuquen, Patagonia, Argentina" (PDF). Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. 66 (1): 83–124.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.