Mesosuchus

Mesosuchus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, Anisian
Life restoration of Mesosuchus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Rhynchosauria
Genus: Mesosuchus
Watson, 1912
Species

Mesosuchus is an extinct genus of basal rhynchosaur from middle Triassic (Anisian stage) deposits of Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is known from the holotype SAM 5882, a partial skeleton, and from the paratypes SAM 6046, SAM 6536, SAM 7416 and SAM 7701 from the Aliwal North Euparkeria site. It was found in the Burgersdorp Formation of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin) and referred to the middle Cynognathus Assemblage Zone. It was first named by David Meredith Seares Watson in 1912 and the type species is Mesosuchus browni.[1][2]

References

  1. David Meredith Seares Watson (1912). "Mesosuchus browni, gen. et spe. Nov.". Records of the Albany Museum 2: 298–299.
  2. David M. Dilkes (1998). "The Early Triassic rhynchosaur Mesosuchus browni and the interrelationships of basal archosauromorph reptiles". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 353: 501–541. doi:10.1098/rstb.1998.0225.