Zholsuchus

Zholsuchus Temporal range: Turonian [1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Clade:	Crocodylomorpha
Family:	† Goniopholididae
Genus:	† Zholsuchus Nessov et al., 1989
Type species
Z. procevus Nessov et al., 1989

Zholsuchus is a genus of crocodyliform that may have been a goniopholidid mesoeucrocodylian, but is only known from scanty material (a right premaxilla, one of the bones of the tip of the snout). This specimen was found in the Turonian-age Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Dzharakhuduk, Uzbekistan. ^[1] Zholsuchus was described in 1989 by Lev Nessov and colleagues. The type species is Z. procevus.

A 2000 review by Glenn Storrs and Mikhail Efimov designated Zholsuchus a dubious name, ^[2] while a 2022 study found that Zholsuchus is a valid taxon by the traits assigned to the specimens assigned to Zholsuchus, and showed affiliations with crown-group crocodylians. ^[1]

References

1. Kuzmin IT (2022). "Crocodyliform remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Central Asia – evidence for one of the oldest Crocodylia?". Cretaceous Research. 138 105266. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105266 . S2CID   249355618.
2. 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   978-0-521-55476-3.