Sarmatosuchus

Sarmatosuchus
Temporal range: Anisian, 247–245 Ma
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Reconstruction of Sarmatosuchus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Genus: †Sarmatosuchus
Sennikov, 1994
Type species
†Sarmatosuchus otschevi
Sennikov, 1994

Sarmatosuchus is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile found in sediments of Middle Triassic age and known from the single species Sarmatosuchus otschevi. It is one of the earliest stem-archosaur species known. The holotype and only specimen was found in lithified river deposits of the Donguz Formation exposed near the Berdyanka River, Orenburg region, Russia.[1] The genus was originally included in the extinct family Proterosuchidae. However, later analysis by David Gower and Andrei Sennikov, the describing author, has removed it from the Proterosuchidae and designated it a basal archosauriform.[2]

  1. ^ Sennikov, A. G. 1994 "Pervyj srednetriansovyj proteroscchid iz Vostochnoy Evropy." Doklady Akademii Nauk 336:359-661
  2. ^ Gower, D. J. & Sennikov, A. G. 1997, "Sarmatosuchus and the Early History of the Archosauria" Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1):60-73