Longosuchus meadei ( Sawin, 1947 )

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 23-24

Longosuchus meadei ( Sawin, 1947) , sensu Hunt and Lucas, 1990

AGE:?Carnian–early Norian ( Lucas et al., 1993).

OCCURRENCE: Otis Chalk area, TMM 31025 (Quarry 1), TMM 31099 (Quarry 2), TMM 31100 (Quarry 3), TMM 31185 (Quarry 3A), TMM 31098 (site 3), TMM 31220 (sites 3, 4) ‘‘Pre-Tecovas horizon’’ ( Long and Murry, 1995).

LECTOTYPE: TMM 31185-97 postcrania (formerly 31185-84b). The well-preserved skull TMM 31185-98 belongs to the postcranial skeleton numbered TMM 31185-97 ( Sawin, 1947), but because of ICZN rules, it is not part of the lectotype ( Parker and Martz, 2010).

REFERRED MATERIAL: TMM 31185-98, skull (formerly part of 31185-84b [ Sawin, 1947; Hunt and Lucas, 1990]); TMM 31185- 97 (formerly 31185-84a), axial, pelvic and pectoral elements, limb fragments; TMM 31185-84a, appendicular elements axial skeleton, many osteoderms, manus, pes; TMM 31100-435, two-thirds of an articulated tail.

REMARKS: Originally named as a species of Typothorax ( Sawin, 1947) , Hunt and Lucas (1990) renamed the taxon as Longosuchus meadei based on the divergent morphology of the TMM specimens with those of Typothorax coccinarum . Most elements of the skeleton of Longosuchus are known from both articulated and disarticulated specimens and were collected from a limited geographic area near Otis Chalk (see Sawin, 1947). Two exquisitely preserved skulls, one partial and one nearly complete, preserve details of the palate, braincase, and details on the medial side of each preserved element ( Sawin, 1947; Parrish, 1994). Furthermore, the specimens preserve manus and pedes in the collected material making Longosuchus the most complete, large bodied aetosaur. Unfortunately, many of the bones (e.g., pedes) described by Sawin (1947) are mounted in a reconstruction on display at the Texas Memorial Museum, at the University of Texas at Austin. Based on osteoderms, Lucas (1998b, 1998c) reported Longosuchus from the Timesgadiouine Formation of Morocco and Pekin Formation of the Newark Supergroup; none of these specimens is used to score the taxon here.

KEY REFERENCES: Parrish, 1994; Small, 2002; Parker, 2003.