Microsuchus Temporal range: Santonian
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Suborder: | †Notosuchia |
Genus: | †Microsuchus De Saez, 1928 |
Type species | |
†Microsuchus schilleri De Saez, 1928
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Microsuchus is an extinct genus of mesoeucrocodylians, belonging to Notosuchia.[1] Fossils have been found in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, dating to the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous.[2]
Originally classified as a goniopholidid on the basis of the platycoelous vertebral centra,[3] Microsuchus was recently redescribed and recovered as either a neosuchian or notosuchian. Diagnostic features include the presence of a bulge lateral to the prezygapophyses of the second sacral vertebra, elongated posterior zeugopodia, and proximal caudal centra with a triangular cross section.[4] A 2017 cladistic analysis of Razanandrongobe further clarified the phylogenetic position of Microsuchus by recovering it as a primitive notosuchian.[5]