Litargosuchus leptorhynchus Clark and Sues, 2002

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 : 42

Litargosuchus leptorhynchus Clark and Sues, 2002

AGE: Early Jurassic ( Olsen and Galton, 1984).

OCCURRENCE: Top of the upper Elliot Formation, South Africa ( Clark and Sues, 2002).

HOLOTYPE: BP/1/5237, complete skull and much of an articulated postcranium missing the manus and pedes.

REMARKS: The well-preserved, though crushed, skeleton of Litargosuchus represents one of the most complete non-crocodyliform crocodylomorphs from Gondwanaland. The skull bears similarities to crocodyliforms, but as in Kayentasuchus , it has a mix of ‘‘sphenosuchian’’ and crocodyliform character states. The limb proportions are long relative to the axial column like that of Terrestrisuchus . Although incomplete, the ulnare and radiale appear to be the longest of any crocodylomorph. The postcranium has yet to be described formally, but is included in my scoring of the taxon.

KEY REFERENCES: Clark and Sues, 2002.