Venaticosuchus

Venaticosuchus
Temporal range: Late Triassic
Venaticosuchus rusconii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Family: †Ornithosuchidae
Genus: †Venaticosuchus
Bonaparte, 1971
Species
  • †V. rusconii Bonaparte, 1971 (type)

Venaticosuchus is a genus of Late Triassic quadrupedal crurotarsan archosaur. It was a medium-sized predator, reaching up to 2 m (7 ft) in length.[1] Originally it was thought to be the ancestor to the carnosaur dinosaurs (which then included Tyrannosaurus); however, now it is known to be more closely related to crocodilians than dinosaurs. It was a carnivore.[2]

Species

A single species of Venaticosuchus has been described, the type species, V. rusconii from the Late Triassic of Argentina, around 210 million years ago.

Venaticosuchus is a member of Ornithosuchidae, a family of facultatively bipedal carnivores that were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic. Two other genera, Ornithosuchus and Riojasuchus, are currently known.

  1. ↑ http://palaeos.com/vertebrates/archosauria/ornithosuchidae2.html#Venaticosuchus
  2. ↑ Bonaparte, JF (1971), Annotated list of the South American Triassic tetrapods, in SH Haughton (ed.), Second Gondwana Symposium, Proceedings and Papers [1970]. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research [Praetoria] 2: 665-682.
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