Hoplosuchus

Extinct genus of reptiles

Hoplosuchus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic
Life restoration of Hoplosuchus kayi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
Superorder:
Crocodylomorpha
Order:
Crocodyliformes
Family:
Protosuchidae
Genus:
Hoplosuchus

Gilmore, 1926
Species
  • H. kayi Gilmore, 1926 (type)

Hoplosuchus is a genus of crocodyliform belonging to Protosuchidae. It is so far only known definitely from one specimen, a skeleton collected from sandstone of the Upper Jurassic-age Morrison Formation rocks at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, during road construction. The individual was small, approximately 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, although it may have been very young. It is the basalmost crocodyliform of the Morrison Formation, as suggested by such attributes as still having antorbital fenestrae in the skull. The limbs were relatively long, suggesting that the animal was terrestrial. Two rows of bony scutes ran down the back. The crowns of the teeth are not well preserved, so the diet cannot be determined with certainty. Given its small size, it probably ate insects and small vertebrates; it may have been carnivorous or omnivorous.[1]

Classification

Holotype fossil

Charles W. Gilmore named Hoplosuchus in 1926; the type species is H. kayi. He described it as an aetosaur, a type of armored herbivorous archosaur related to the crocodylomorphs, but it was later reevaluated as a crocodylomorph itself.[1] Sometimes classified as an atoposaurid,[2] a 1988 review of atoposaurids found it more likely to be a protosuchian-grade crocodylomorph.[3] A potential second specimen has been recovered from the Morrison Formation of northeastern Arizona; this individual would have been about 50 centimetres (20 in), but the skull is poorly preserved, leaving the identity of the animal unknown.[1] A 2017 cladistic analysis of Cassissuchus recovered it as a member of Protosuchidae.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Foster, John (2007). Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-0-253-34870-8. OCLC 77830875.
  2. ^ Carroll, Robert L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 978-0-7167-1822-2.
  3. ^ Buscalioni, Angela D.; Jose Luis Sanz (1988). "Phylogenetic relationships of the Atoposauridae (Archosauria, Crocodylomorpha)". Historical Biology. I (3): 233–250. doi:10.1080/08912968809386477.
  4. ^ Buscalioni, Ángela D. (2017). "The Gobiosuchidae in the early evolution of Crocodyliformes". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (3): e1324459. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1324459. S2CID 90236201.
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Sauropsida
    • see Sauropsida
Archosauromorpha
    • see Archosauromorpha
Pseudosuchia
    • see below↓
Ornithosuchidae
Erpetosuchidae
Aetosauriformes
Aetosauria
    • see Aetosauria
Gracilisuchidae
Paracrocodylomorpha
    • see below↓
Ornithosuchus longidens

Erpetosuchus granti

Gracilisuchus stepanicicorum
Poposauroidea
Ctenosauriscidae
Poposauridae
Shuvosauridae
Loricata
Rauisuchidae
Crocodylomorpha
    • see below↓
Arizonasaurus babbitti

Effigia okeeffeae Saurosuchus galilei

Postosuchus kirkpatricki
Saltoposuchidae
Hallopodidae
Thalattosuchia
    • see Thalattosuchia
Protosuchidae
Notochampsidae
Gobiosuchidae
Shartegosuchoidea
Shartegosuchidae
Metasuchia
Ziphosuchia
Neosuchia
Hesperosuchus agilis

Hoplosuchus kayi

Sichuanosuchus huidongensis
Taxon identifiers
Hoplosuchus


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