Lagosuchus

Lagosuchus
Temporal range: Late Triassic, 236–234 Ma
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Mounted skeleton (based on specimens previously referred to Marasuchus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Ornithodira
Clade: Dinosauromorpha
Order: †Lagosuchia
Paul, 1988
Family: †Lagosuchidae
Bonaparte, 1975
Genus: †Lagosuchus
Romer, 1971
Species:
†L. talampayensis
Binomial name
†Lagosuchus talampayensis
Romer, 1971
Synonyms

Lagosuchus is an extinct genus of avemetatarsalian archosaur from the Late Triassic of Argentina. The type species of Lagosuchus, Lagosuchus talampayensis, is based on a small partial skeleton recovered from the early Carnian-age Chañares Formation. The holotype skeleton of L. talampayensis is fairly fragmentary, but it does possess some traits suggesting that Lagosuchus was a probable dinosauriform, closely related to dinosaurs.[1][2][3]

A second potential species of Lagosuchus, L. lilloensis, is based on an assortment of slightly larger and more well-preserved fossils.[4] These larger specimens have been considered much more diagnostic and informative than the original small L. talampayensis skeleton. As a result, some paleontologists have placed the larger specimens into a new genus, Marasuchus. Marasuchus is generally considered one of the more complete early dinosauriforms, useful for estimating ancestral traits for the origin of dinosaurs. This would also render Lagosuchus a nomen dubium, simply a name referring to a fossil which is too fragmentary to have a formal genus.[2][5] However, other paleontologists support the argument that Lagosuchus is a valid genus, and that Marasuchus is a junior synonym of it.[6][3]

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