| Smilosuchus Fossil range: Late Triassic | |
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Smilosuchus |
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Smilosuchus is an extinct genus of phytosaur from the Late Triassic of North America. It was first described in 1995 as a replacement generic name for Leptosuchus gregorii.[1] Because of the large rostral crest it posessed, it was considered to be distinct enough from other species of Leptosuchus (all of which had smaller and more restricted crests) to be within its own genus. Despite this, recent studies seem to suggest that Smilosuchus is congeneric with Leptosuchus, as the enlarged crest could have been independantly developed in Leptosuchus.[2]
Description[]
Phylogeny[]
Below is a cladogram from Stocker (2012):
References[]
- ^ Long, R. A., and Murry, P. A. (1995). Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4:1-254.
- ^ Irmis, R. B. (2005). The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in Northern Arizona. In: Nesbitt, S. J., Parker, W. G. and Irmis, R. B., eds., Guidebook to the Triassic Formations of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona: Geology, Paleontology, and History. Mesa Southwest Museum, Bulletin No. 9.
