| Venaticosuchus Temporal range: Carnian
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| Skull diagram | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Family: | †Ornithosuchidae |
| Genus: | †Venaticosuchus Bonaparte 1971 |
| Species | |
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Venaticosuchus is a genus of pseudosuchian archosaurs from the family Ornithosuchidae. Known from a single species, Venaticosuchus rusconii, this genus is described based on an incomplete skull and jaw (as well as a lost partial forelimb and osteoderms) collected from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina, which was deposited around 230 million years ago. This fossil material has been termed the holotype specimen PVL 2578. Venaticosuchus incorporated a myriad of features present in the other two genera of ornithosuchids, Ornithosuchus and Riojasuchus. However, it also had several unique traits, relating to the lower jaw.[1]
Reconstructions of the jaw musculature of Venaticosuchus showed that it had a slow, strong bite, similar to those of herbivorous aetosaurs such as Desmatosuchus. Venaticosuchus and other ornithosuchids were likely specialized scavengers, due to a combinations of features which suggested that they ate meat but were poorly adapted for dealing with living prey.[2]
- ^ Von Bazcko, M. Belén; Desojo, Julia B.; Pol, Diego (2014). "Anatomy and phylogenetic position of Venaticosuchus rusconii Bonaparte, 1970 (Archosauria, Pseudosuchia), from the Ischigualasto Formation (Late Triassic), La Rioja, Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (6): 1342–1356. Bibcode:2014JVPal..34.1342V. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.860150. hdl:11336/18056. S2CID 129619899.
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