Parasuchus

Parasuchus is an extinct genus of basal phytosaur known from the Late Triassic of Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, India. At its most restricted definition, Parasuchus contains a single species, Parasuchus hislopi. Parasuchus hislopi is one of several species belonging to a basal grade of phytosaurs, typified by the genus Paleorhinus. Historically, Paleorhinus has been known from better-described fossils, and many species have been lumped into that genus. Parasuchus hislopi, despite being described earlier than Paleorhinus, was considered an undiagnostic chimera until new neotype fossils were described in the late 1970s. Parasuchus hislopi and the two unambiguously valid species of Paleorhinus are all closely related; some authors have historically described them all under the species Paleorhinus, while others place the two Paleorhinus species into Parasuchus according to the principle of priority. The bite force of Parasuchus hislopi is estimated to be 450 newtons at the anterior portion of the jaw, with 1,958 newtons at the posterior portion.

Parasuchus

Martin D. Ezcurra · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ParasuchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 248.6 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 1 of 22 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 22 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 21 of 22 occurrencesLate Triassic252–250 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 1 occurrence236–235 Mya — about 2 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 2 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 2 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 2 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 1 occurrence227–225 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences219–217 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences248.6 Mya227.3 Mya251.7 Mya204.8 Mya

22 occurrences of Parasuchus on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

22 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Colorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.82°N, 101.43°WColorado City — 32.18°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.13°N, 101.25°WMaleri — 19.13°N, 79.67°EMaleri — 19.17°N, 79.67°EMaleri — 19.22°N, 79.58°EDrawno Beds — 50.67°N, 18.25°EDrawno Beds — 50.66°N, 18.27°EPopo Agie — 43.54°N, 109.64°WPopo Agie — 42.80°N, 108.82°WHassberge — 49.84°N, 10.48°ETiki — 23.92°N, 81.37°ECooper Canyon — 33.00°N, 101.15°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WTecovas — 34.98°N, 101.66°WTimezgadiouine — 31.03°N, 9.01°W

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The named rock units Parasuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Parasuchus and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Parasuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

121 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Parasuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 22 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Parasuchus

Credit
Martin D. Ezcurra
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itParasuchidae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1885