Parahupehsuchus Temporal range: Early Triassic,
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Holotype specimen of Parahupehsuchus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | †Hupehsuchia |
Family: | †Hupehsuchidae |
Genus: | †Parahupehsuchus Chen et al., 2014 |
Type species | |
†Parahupehsuchus longus Chen et al., 2014
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Parahupehsuchus is an extinct genus of hupehsuchian marine reptiles from the Early Triassic of China. The genus is monotypic, known from the single species Parahupehsuchus longus and based on a single specimen. Like other hupehsuchians, it had an elongated torso, a tail nearly as long as the rest of the body, short and paddle-like limbs, extra bones in the fore- and hind limbs, thick ribs and gastralia, neural spines of the vertebrae split into two parts, and bony plates over the neural spines. It differs from other hupehsuchians in having an even more elongated body and wider ribs that touch along their edges and have no spaces between them. The ribs connect with gastralia on the underside of the torso to form a bony "tube" around the body wall.[1]