| Batrachotomus Fossil range: Middle Triassic, 230 Ma | |
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Batrachotomus |
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Batrachotomus (meaning "frog slicer") is a genus of prehistoric archosaur which lived during the Middle Triassic period (Ladinian stage), around 228 to 231 million years ago. Batrachotomus was possibly an early relative of Postosuchus.[1]
Description[]
Batrachotomus was a large reptile reaching 6 m in length.
The head of Batrachotomus is estimated at 40 to 50 cm in length.[2][3] The teeth are compressed laterally and are unequal in size.[2] As for their sharp shape there is no ambiguity that the animal was carnivorous. The upper jaw contains about 15 teeth and the lower jaw 11 or 12.[2]
Discovery and history[]
The Kupferzell locality in Germany between Heilbronn and Nuremberg, where fossils of Batrachotomus have been discovered.
Remains of Batrachotomus were found in Germany, at the Kupferzell fossil locality, which was discovered in 1977 by fossil collector Johann G. Wegele.[4] The fossils recovered from a marlstone remained undescribed until 1999 and palaeontologists reffered to the genus simply as "rauisuchid" or "Kupferzellia".[5][2] In 1999 palaeontologist David J. Gower described the holotype specimen SMNS 52970 from the 1977 excavation, comprised by incomplete skull and postcranial materials.[6] Anatomy of the braincase (SMNS 80260) was made three years later, also by Gower, and a detailed reconstruction of the postcranial skeleton reported for the first time in 2009.[7]
Classification[]
Batrachotomus was a prestosuchid, a member of a family of carnivorous archosaurs within the larger group Rauisuchia. The family name Prestosuchidae was created by Alfred S. Romer in 1966. Prestosuchids were quadrupedal reptiles, medium to large in size, characterized by erect posture, large and narrow skull and large antorbital openings.
Attention was first brought to Batrachotomus in 1993 by Michael Parrish, a palaeontologist at Northern Illinois University. Parrish hypothesized that Batrachotomus (then "Kupferzellia") belonged to the family of Rauisuchidae, another clade of carnivorous reptiles, and species of Rauisuchus. However, the description of the braincase and a revisited cladistic analysis by Benton and Walker, showing the close relationships between Batrachotomus and Prestosuchus, led to the transfer of Batrachotomus to the family Prestosuchidae.
Sterling J. Nesbitt (2011) revised the classification of basal archosaurs, and using the most comprehensive phylogenetic analysis for this group (to date) found Prestosuchidae to be non-monophyletic. The members of this clade were recovered as basal loricatan, of which Batrachotomus was found to be the most derived i.e. most closely related to the clade containing Crocodylomorpha and Rauisuchidae. Subsequent derivatives of this analysis further support this hypothesis. In a yet to be formally published revision of Heptasuchus, a medium-sized (~5 m long) "rauisuchian" from the upper Chugwater Group of Wyoming, it was recovered as the sister taxon of Batrachotomus using a derivative of Nesbitt (2011) analysis.
Cladogram after the analysis of Nesbitt (2011):
| Pseudosuchia |
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Paleoecology[]
Gallery[]
References[]
Specific[]
General[]
- Gower, David J. (1999). "Cranial osteology of a new Rauisuchian Archosaur from the Middle Triassic of southern Germany". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde B 280: 1–9.
- Gower, David J. (2002). "Braincase evolution in Suchian Archosaurs (Reptilia: Diapsida): Evidence from the Rauisuchian Batrachotomus kupferzellensis". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136 (1): 49–76. doi:.
- Gower, David J.; Schoch, Rainer R. (2009). "Postcranial Anatomy of the Rauisuchian Archosaur Batrachotomus kupferzellensis". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29 (1): 103–122. doi:.
External links[]
- Batrachotomus at palaeos.com.
- Der "Lurchenschlächter" Batrachotomus Template:De icon