Calsoyasuchus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Family: | †Goniopholididae |
Genus: | †Calsoyasuchus Tykoski et al., 2002 |
Type species | |
†Calsoyasuchus valliceps Tykoski et al., 2002
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Calsoyasuchus (meaning "[Dr. Kyril] Calsoyas' crocodile") is a genus of crocodylomorph[1] that lived in the Early Jurassic. Its fossilized remains were found in the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian-age Kayenta Formation on Navajo Nation land in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. Formally described as C. valliceps, it is known from a single incomplete skull which is unusually derived for such an early crocodile relative. This genus was described in 2002 by Ronald Tykoski and colleagues; the specific name means "valley head" and refers to a deep groove along the midline of the nasal bones and frontal bones.[2] It has often been interpreted as the earliest diverging member of Goniopholididae, but other studies have recovered it in various other positions.