Venkatasuchus

Venkatasuchus
Temporal range: Late Triassic 228.0–201.3 Ma
Life restoration of Venkatasuchus armatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Order: Aetosauria
Family: Stagonolepididae
Tribe: Paratypothoracini
Genus: Venkatasuchus
Haldar, Ray & Bandyopadhyay, 2023
Species:
V. armatum
Binomial name
Venkatasuchus armatum
Haldar, Ray & Bandyopadhyay, 2023

Venkatasuchus is an extinct genus of aetosaur from the Late Triassic Dharmaram Formation of India. It was described in 2023 on the basis of a series of associated osteoderms that formed the paramedian and lateral armour. Based on the osteoderms the carapace of Venkatasuchus was disc-shaped and very wide, with curved, horn-like elements along its sides. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Venkatasuchus belonged to the subfamily Typothoracinae and more specifically the clade Paratypothoracini, where it is recovered as the sister taxon to Kocurypelta. Venkatasuchus is among the few aetosaurs recovered from the region that would later become Gondwana and lends credence to the idea that late Triassic India represented a connective hub between Laurasian and Gondwanan fauna. The genus is monotypic, meaning it only includes a single species, Venkatasuchus armatum.