Oweniasuchus

Extinct genus of reptiles

Oweniasuchus
Temporal range: 145.5–93.5 Ma
PreꞒ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Berriasian - Cenomanian
Ramus of O. minor and O. major
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Family: Goniopholididae
Genus: Oweniasuchus
Woodward, 1885
Species
  • O. major Owen, 1879 (type)
  • ?O. minor Owen, 1879
  • O. lusitanicus Sauvage, 1897
  • O. pulchelus Jonet, 1981

Oweniasuchus is an extinct genus of goniopholidid mesoeucrocodylian. Remains have been found from England and Portugal that are Cretaceous in age.

The type species of Oweniasuchus is O. major from the Early Cretaceous Upper Purbeck Group in Beccles, England. It is known from a mandibular ramus that was first described as Brachydectes minor by Richard Owen in 1879. Because the generic name Brachydectes was preoccupied by the Carboniferous amphibian Brachydectes, the species was reassigned to the new genus Oweniasuchus by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1885, along with another species, B. minor, also described by Owen from material from Beccles. Recently, O. major has been considered a nomen dubium because the holotype specimen (BMNH 48304) is too fragmentary to provide an adequate diagnosis.[1] O. minor has since been proposed to be a synonym of the atoposaurid Theriosuchus pusillus.[1] Two other species, O. lusitanicus and O. pulchelus, are known from the Late Cretaceous of Portugal.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Salisbury, S. W. (2002). "Crocodilians from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, southern England". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 68: 121–144.
  2. ^ Crespo, E. G. (2002). "Paleoherpetofauna Portuguesa". Revista Española de Herpetología. 2002: 17–35.

External links

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Pseudosuchia
    • see Pseudosuchia
Neosuchia
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Tethysuchia
Pholidosauridae
Dyrosauridae
Atoposauridae
Stomatosuchidae
Paluxysuchidae
Goniopholididae
Bernissartiidae
Paralligatoridae
Eusuchia
    • see below↓
Oceanosuchus boecensis

Dyrosaurus phosphaticus Isisfordia duncani Goniopholis simus

Bernissartia fagesii
Hylaeochampsidae
Allodaposuchidae
Aegyptosuchidae
"Thoracosaurs"
Planocraniidae
Crocodilia
    • see Crocodilia for extant taxa, and Extinct Crocodilia for extinct ones
Allodaposuchus precedens
Taxon identifiers
Oweniasuchus


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