Paleontologists in India have identified a new genus and species of proterosuchid reptile from both new and historically collected specimens.
Samsarasuchus pamelae roamed our planet during the Early Triassic epoch, 251.5 million years ago.
The ancient reptile was a member of Proterosuchidae, a small family of early archosauriforms.
Proterosuchids are known from the latest Permian of Eastern Europe and the earliest Triassic of South Africa and China.
These creatures were slender, long-snouted reptiles that superficially resembled crocodiles.
They measured between 1.5 and 4 m in length, were adapted to hearing low frequency sounds, and probably had semi-aquatic habits.
Their most characteristic feature was a distinct down-turning of the front of the upper jaw (premaxilla).
“The origin of Archosauromorpha can be traced back to the middle-late Permian, with a few occurrences in Western and Eastern Europe, continental Africa and probably South America,” said University of Birmingham paleontologist Martín Ezcurra and his colleagues.
“The presence of Permian archosauriforms implies that the origin of the main non-archosauriform archosauromorph clades should also extend back well into the Permian, although Paleozoic fossil evidence is still lacking for the vast majority of these groups (e.g. tanystropheids, rhynchosaurs, allokotosaurs, prolacertids).”
“The only archosauromorph lineage with body fossils on both sides of the vertebrate fossil-defined Permo-Triassic boundary is Proterosuchidae,” they said.
“The members of this clade are characterized by a low and elongated skull with a large and strongly downturned premaxilla, moderately long cervical series, relatively gracile limb bones and a plesiomorphic sprawling locomotion.”
“The unusual oversized and downturned premaxilla of proterosuchids became increasingly pronounced and distinctive through ontogeny, and mutual social and/or sexual selection may be an explanation for the function and…
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