Doswellia Temporal range: Late Triassic, Carnian |
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Doswellia kaltenbachi | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Family: | †Doswelliidae |
Genus: | †Doswellia Weems, 1980 |
Species | |
Doswellia is an extinct genus of archosauriform. It has been placed in its own family, Doswellidae, and its own suborder, Doswelliina. It was a terrestrial carnivore that existed in eastern North America during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic.[1] Fossils have been found from the Poor Farm Member of the Falling Creek Formation in Virginia. The formation, which is found in the Taylorsville basin, is part of the larger Newark Supergroup. Doswellia is named after Doswell, the town from which remains have been found.
The type species, Doswellia kaltenbachi, was described by Weems in 1980. Weems placed Doswellia within Thecodontia, a group of archosaurs that traditionally included many Triassic archosaurs. He placed the genus within its own family, Doswelliidae, and suborder, Dosweliina. Parrish (1993) placed Doswellia among the most primitive of the crurotarsans, a group that includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives. More recently, Dilkes and Sues (2009) proposed a close relationship between Doswellia and the early archosauriform family Proterochampsidae. Desojo et al. (2011) added the Brazilian archosauriforms Tarjadia and Archeopelta to Doswelliidae, and found support for Dilkes and Sues' classification in their own phylogenetic analysis.[2]
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