Turanosuchus

Turanosuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Holotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Family: Paralligatoridae
Genus: Turanosuchus
Efimov, 1988
Type species
Turanosuchus aralensis
Efimov, 1988
Referred material

Turanosuchus is an extinct genus of paralligatorid crocodyliform. It is based on PIN 2229/507, a partial lower jaw consisting of the area where the two halves of the lower jaw meet (mandibular symphysis). This specimen was found in rocks of the lower Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Bostobe Svita of Shakh-Shakh, southern Kazakhstan. Turanosuchus was described in 1988 by Mikhail Efimov. The type species is T. aralensis.[1] Halliday et al. (2015) revised the material attributed to T. aralensis and concluded that it represents non-diagnostic neosuchian material, and as such the genus was considered to be a nomen dubium.[2]

Skutschas, Rezvyi & Efimov (2015) considered Turanosuchus aralensis to be a junior synonym of Kansajsuchus extensus.[3] Kuzmin et al. (2019) considered genus Turanosuchus to be a junior synonym of the genus Kansajsuchus; however, the authors were uncertain whether T. aralensis is a junior synonym of K. extensus or a distinct paralligatorid taxon (though closely related to K. extensus). The authors noted that the fossil material attributed to T. aralensis demonstrates a single autapomorphy of K. extensus among paralligatorids (restriction of the frontal participation in the orbital margin), but this feature varies among specimens of T. aralensis. According to the authors, this variability could either reflect ontogenetic/individual variation in this feature or indicate the presence of a taxon distinct from K. extensus.[4]

References

  1. ^ Storrs, Glenn W.; Efimov, Mikhail B. (2000). "Mesozoic crocodyliforms of north-central Eurasia". In Benton, Michael J.; Shishkin, Mikhail A.; Unwin, David M.; Kurochkin, Evgenii N. (eds.). The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 402–419. ISBN 0-521-55476-4.
  2. ^ Thomas J.D. Halliday; Marco Brandalise de Andrade; Michael J. Benton; Mikhail B. Efimov (2015). "A re-evaluation of goniopholidid crocodylomorph material from Central Asia: Biogeographic and phylogenetic implications" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60 (2): 291–312. doi:10.4202/app.2013.0018.
  3. ^ P.P. Skutschas; A.S. Rezvyi; M.B. Efimov (2015). "НАДОТРЯД CROCODYLIFORMES". In E.N. Kurochkin; A.V. Lopatin; N.V. Zelenkov (eds.). Ископаемые позвоночные России и сопредельных стран. Ископаемые рептилии и птицы. Часть 3 / Fossil vertebrates of Russia and adjacent countries. Fossil reptiles and birds. Part 3. GEOS. pp. 17–45. ISBN 978-5-89118-699-6.
  4. ^ Ivan T. Kuzmin; Pavel P. Skutschas; Elizaveta A. Boitsova; Hans-Dieter Sues (2019). "Revision of the large crocodyliform Kansajsuchus (Neosuchia) from the Late Cretaceous of Central Asia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 185 (2): 335–387. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly027.