Parasuchus angustifrons ( Kuhn, 1936 )

Sues, Hans-Dieter & Schoch, Rainer R., 2025, Synopsis of the Triassic reptiles from Germany, Fossil Record 28 (2), pp. 411-483 : 411-483

Parasuchus angustifrons ( Kuhn, 1936)

Holotype.

SNSB-BSPG 1931 X 502, partial cranium lacking the anterior ends of the premaxillae and all its teeth (Fig. 15 B ).

Type locality.

Former quarry at Ebrach, Bamberg district, Bavaria.

Type horizon.

Bed 9, Blasensandstein (equivalent of Hassberge Formation), Middle Keuper Subgroup. Age: Late Triassic (Carnian: Tuvalian).

Diagnosis.

Distinguished by the following autapomorphies: stepped lateral rim of external narial fenestra strongly swollen and rugose at posterior end; anterior portions of nasals (immediately posterior to external nares) and anterior portions of frontals with paired depressions; foramen in ectopterygoid enlarged and subcircular; suborbital foramen long and boomerang-shaped; and postparietal foramen at junction between parietals and supraoccipital ( Butler et al. 2014).

Comments.

Kuhn (1933) proposed the genus Francosuchus for the reception of Francosuchus latus and F. broilii , both based on incomplete crania from Bed 13 of the Blasensandstein in the Ebrach quarry. Both holotypes were housed at SNSB-BSPG and destroyed during World War II. Butler et al. (2014) considered both taxa nomina dubia. Kuhn (1936) described a third species Francosuchus angustifrons based on an incomplete cranium from Bed 9 of Blasensandstein at Ebrach. The latter ( SNSB-BSPG 1931 X 502) survived the war and was redescribed by Butler et al. (2014).

Gregory (1962) noted the close resemblance between Francosuchus angustifrons and Paleorhinus bransoni Williston, 1904 from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) Popo Agie Formation of Wyoming and treated the former as a subgenus of the latter, referring to the phytosaur from Ebrach as Paleorhinus ( Francosuchus) broilii . Kammerer et al. (2016) argued that Paleorhinus was a subjective junior synonym of Parasuchus Lydekker, 1885 , which was originally reported from the Carnian-age Maleri Formation of India. Thus, the correct binomen for the Ebrach parasuchid is Parasuchus angustifrons ( Kuhn, 1933) .

The phylogenetic analysis by Kammerer et al. (2016) recovered Parasuchus angustifrons as the sister-taxon of P. hislopi Lydekker, 1885 , from the Maleri Formation of India. Parasuchus bransoni ( Williston, 1904) , from the Popo Agie Formation of Wyoming and the Dockum Group of Texas, U. S. A., was found as the sister-taxon to the clade P. angustifrons + P. indicus .

References.

Kuhn (1933, 1936), Gregory (1962), Butler et al. (2014), Kammerer et al. (2016).

Figures

Figure 15. Reptiles from the Middle Keuper Subgroup. A. Erpetosuchid pseudosuchian Dyoplax arenaceus, holotype (SMNS 4760), skull and cervical region in lateral view. Scale bar: 2 cm. B. Parasuchid Parasuchus angustifrons, holotype (SNSB-BSPG 1931 X 502), incomplete cranium in dorsal view. Scale bar: 5 cm. C. Parasuchid Ebrachosuchus neukami, holotype (SNSB-BSPG 1931 X 501), cranium in dorsal view. Scale bar: 10 cm. B, C from Lautenschlager and Butler (2016) – CC-BY 4.0.