Peirosauridae Temporal range: | |
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Skull of the peirosaurid Hamadasuchus rebouli on display at the Royal Ontario Museum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Clade: | † Notosuchia |
Clade: | † Sebecosuchia |
Clade: | † Sebecia |
Family: | † Peirosauridae Gasparini, 1982 |
Genera | |
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Peirosauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Cretaceous period. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodyliforms that evolved a rather dog-like skull, and were terrestrial carnivores. It was phylogenetically defined in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of Peirosaurus and Lomasuchinae and all of its descendants. Lomasuchinae is a subfamily of peirosaurids that includes the genus Lomasuchus . [1]
Lomasuchinae was defined in the same 2004 study as the most recent common ancestor of Lomasuchus and Mahajangasuchini and all of its descendants. Mahajangasuchini, also constructed in the study, was defined as the most recent common ancestor of Mahajangasuchus and Uberabasuchus and all of its descendants. [1] However, all more recent phylogenetic analyses placed Mahajangasuchus within its own family, Mahajangasuchidae, along with the newly named Kaprosuchus . [2] [3] [4]
The following list of genera follows Martinelli et al., 2012 unless otherwise noted. [5]
Simosuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. It is named for its unusually short skull. Fully grown individuals were about 0.75 metres (2.5 ft) in length. The type species is Simosuchus clarki, found from the Maevarano Formation in Mahajanga Province, although one isolated multicuspid tooth of this genus was discovered in Kallamedu Formation of India.
Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group ; if Sebecosuchia is included within Notosuchia its existence is pushed into the Middle Miocene, about 11 million years ago. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Notosuchia was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved a range of feeding behaviours, including herbivory (Chimaerasuchus), omnivory (Simosuchus), and terrestrial hypercarnivory (Baurusuchus). It included many members with highly derived traits unusual for crocodylomorphs, including mammal-like teeth, flexible bands of shield-like body armor similar to those of armadillos (Armadillosuchus), and possibly fleshy cheeks and pig-like snouts (Notosuchus). The suborder was first named in 1971 by Zulma Gasparini and has since undergone many phylogenetic revisions.
Montealtosuchus is an extinct genus of terrestrial crocodyliform. It was discovered in 2004 in the Bauru Basin of Brazil, from Campanian-Maastrichtian deposits of the Adamantina Formation. The species was described in 2007, and assigned to the family Peirosauridae. The type species is M. arrudacamposi. The genus takes its name from the type locality in Monte Alto municipality.
Baurusuchidae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is a group of terrestrial hypercarnivorous crocodilians from South America and possibly Pakistan. Baurusuchidae has been, in accordance with the PhyloCode, officially defined as the least inclusive clade containing Cynodontosuchus rothi, Pissarrachampsa sera, and Baurusuchus pachecoi. Baurusuchids have been placed in the suborder Baurusuchia, and two subfamilies have been proposed: Baurusuchinae and Pissarrachampsinae.
Sphagesauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved very mammal-like teeth and jaws. Both Sphagesaurus and Adamantinasuchus are known from the Turonian to Santonian of Brazil.
Wargosuchus is an extinct genus of baurusuchid crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It is known from a fragmentary skull from the Santonian-age Bajo de la Carpa Formation of the Neuquén Group, found in the vicinity of Neuquén, Neuquén Province, and was described by Agustín Martinelli and Diego Pais in 2008. The type species, and so far the only species, is Wargosuchus australis.
The Adamantina Formation is a geological formation in the Bauru Basin of western São Paulo state, in southeastern Brazil.
Pabwehshi is an extinct genus of mesoeucrocodylian. It is based on GSP-UM 2000, a partial snout and corresponding lower jaw elements, with another snout assigned to it. These specimens were found in Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Vitakri and Pab Formations in Balochistan, Pakistan, and represent the first diagnostic crocodyliform fossils from Cretaceous rocks of South Asia. Pabwehshi had serrated interlocking teeth in its snout that formed a "zig-zag" cutting edge. Pabwehshi was named in 2001 by Jeffrey A. Wilson and colleagues. The type species is P. pakistanensis, in reference to the nation where it was found. It was traditionally classified as a baurusuchid closely related to Cynodontosuchus and Baurusuchus. Larsson and Sues (2007) found close affinity between Pabwehshi and the Peirosauridae within Sebecia. Montefeltro et al.Pabwehshi has a sagittal torus on its maxillary palatal shelves – a character that is absent in baurusuchids – but they did not include Pabwehshi in their phylogenetic analysis.
Trematochampsidae is an extinct family of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms. Fossils are present from Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Argentina, and Brazil. Possible trematochampsids have been found from Spain and France, but classification past the family level is indeterminant. The trematochampsids first appeared during the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous and became extinct during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.
Stolokrosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyliforms that lived during the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils, including a skull with a long thin snout and bony knobs on the prefrontal, have been found in Niger. Stolokrosuchus was described in 2000 by Hans Larsson and Boubacar Gado. The type species is S. lapparenti. They initially described it as related to Peirosauridae, if not a member of that family. One study has shown it to be related to Elosuchus. However, more recent works usually find Stolokrosuchus to be one of the basalmost neosuchian, only distantly related to the elosuchid or pholidosaurid, Elosuchus. It was a semiaquatic crocodylomorph.
Lomasuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid notosuchian known from the Late Cretaceous of Neuquén Province, western central Argentina. It contains a single species, Lomasuchus palpebrosus.
Peirosaurus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid crocodylomorph known from the Late Cretaceous period of Minas Gerais, southern Brazil. It contains a single species, Peirosaurus torminni. It is the type genus of the family Peirosauridae.
Mahajangasuchidae is an extinct family of notosuchian crocodyliforms. It currently contains two genera, Mahajangasuchus and Kaprosuchus, both of which lived during the Late Cretaceous in Gondwana. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing Mahajangasuchus insignis but not Notosuchus terrestris, Simosuchus clarki, Araripesuchus gomesii, Baurusuchus pachecoi, Peirosaurus torminni, Goniopholis crassidens, Pholidosaurus schaumbergensis, or Crocodylus niloticus. Phylogenetically, Mahajangasuchidae is placed just outside pholidosaurids and more derived neosuchians.
Sebecia is an extinct clade of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes peirosaurids and sebecids. It was first constructed in 2007 to include Hamadasuchus, Peirosauridae, and Sebecus. It was initially considered to be the sister taxon of the clade Neosuchia, which includes living crocodilians, although some later studies have placed it within Neosuchia as a basal clade. Sebecians were terrestrial crocodyliforms characterized by their deep snouts and ziphodont dentition. They first appeared in the Late Cretaceous, survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and became extinct in the Miocene epoch.
Pepesuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous metasuchian from the Late Cretaceous period. It is a peirosaurid which lived during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous in what is now state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was a semiaquatic crocodylomorph.
Campinasuchus is an extinct genus of baurusuchid mesoeucrocodylian from Minas Gerais State of Brazil.
Gasparinisuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid notosuchian known from the Late Cretaceous of Neuquén and Mendoza Provinces, western central Argentina. It contains a single species, Gasparinisuchus peirosauroides.
Patagosuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid crocodyliform known from the early Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation of Neuquén Province, western central Argentina. It contains a single species, Patagosuchus anielensis. It is distinguished from other peirosaurids by its extremely heterodont dentition, which includes small serrated teeth at the front of the jaws with much larger, laterally compressed caniniform teeth behind them. Patagosuchus also has large spaces between its teeth called interalveolar spaces that are not found in any other peirosaurid.
Bayomesasuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid mesoeucrocodylian known from the early Late Cretaceous Cerro Lisandro Formation of Neuquén Province, western central Argentina. It contains a single species, Bayomesasuchus hernandezi. Even though it is known from relatively fragmentary remains, it represents one of the most basal peirosaurids.
Antaeusuchus taouzensis is a species of peirosaurid notosuchian from the Late Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco. It was described in 2021, and it is the only species in the genus Antaeusuchus. It is the fourth notosuchian described from the region and the second Kem Kem peirosaurid after Hamadasuchus. A 2023 study proposes that Antaeusuchus may not be distinct enough to warrant its own genus and that it instead represents another species of Hamadasuchus.
I. d. S. Carvalho, F. M. d. Vasconcellos, and S. A. S. Tavares. (2007). Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, a new peirosaurid crocodile (Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous Adamantina Formation of Brazil. Zootaxa 1607:35-46