Duerosuchus

Duerosuchus
Temporal range: Middle Eocene,
40 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Clade: Eusuchia
Family: Planocraniidae
Genus: Duerosuchus
Santiago and Andrés, 2009
Type species
Duerosuchus piscator
Santiago and Andrés, 2009

Duerosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Remains have been found from Corrales del Vino in Zamora, Spain, and are middle Eocene in age (about 40 million years old). Duerosuchus is known from a single skull that is incomplete but otherwise well preserved, as well as a lower jaw, some osteoderms, and possibly some vertebrae.

Duerosuchus is a basal crocodilian thought to be closely related to brevirostrine, or short snouted crocodilians, such as alligatoroids. However, the genus was not initially included in a phylogenetic study and its position within Crocodilia was uncertain,[1] until a 2021 study recovered Duerosuchus within the family Planocraniidae.[2]

  1. ^ Santiago, L.A.; Andrés, L.A. (2009). "Nuevo género de Crocodylia del Eoceno medio de la Península Ibérica (Zamora, España): Duerosuchus piscator nov. gen., nov. sp". Studia Geologica Salmanticensia. 45 (2): 149–173.
  2. ^ Narváez, I.; de Celis, A.; Escaso, F.; De Jesús, S. M.; Pérez-García, A.; Rodríguez, A.; Ortega, F. (2021). "Redescription and phylogenetic placement of the Spanish middle Eocene eusuchian Duerosuchus piscator (Crocodylia, Planocraniidae)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (3): e1974868. Bibcode:2021JVPal..41E4868N. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1974868. S2CID 242094589.