Portugalosuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous: Cenomanian, 99.7–94.3 Ma[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Clade: Eusuchia
Genus: †Portugalosuchus
Mateus et al., 2018
Species
  • Portugalosuchus azenhae Mateus et al., 2018 (type)

Portugalosuchus (meaning "crocodile from Portugal") is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliform that was possibly a basal crocodylian – if so then it would be the oldest known crocodylian to date.[2] The type species is P. azenhae, described in 2018,[2] and it is known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged Tentugal Formation in Portugal.[3] A 2021 morphological study recovered Portugalosuchus within Crocodylia as a member of Gavialidae closely related to similar "thoracosaurs" (e.g. Thoracosaurus), while also noting that it might also possibly be outside of Crocodylia completely.[1] A 2022 tip dating analysis incorporating both morphological and DNA data placed Portugalosuchus outside of Crocodylia, as the sister taxon of the family Allodaposuchidae. A cladogram simplified after that analysis is shown below:[4]

Eusuchia

Hylaeochampsa

Acynodon

Iharkutosuchus

Portugalosuchus

Agaresuchus

Lohuecosuchus

Allodaposuchus

Arenysuchus

"Thoracosaurs"

Borealosuchus

Planocraniidae

Crocodylia

References

  1. ^ a b Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
  2. ^ a b Octávio Mateus; Eduardo Puértolas-Pascual; Pedro M. Callapez (2018). "A new eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Portugal reveals novel implications on the origin of Crocodylia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (2): 501–528. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly064.
  3. ^ "Portugalosuchus". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. ^ Darlim, G.; Lee, M. S. Y.; Walter, J.; Rabi, M. (2022). "The impact of molecular data on the phylogenetic position of the putative oldest crown crocodilian and the age of the clade". Biology Letters. 18 (2): 20210603. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0603. PMC 8825999. PMID 35135314.


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