Fasolasuchus tenax Bonaparte, 1981

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 : 36

Fasolasuchus tenax Bonaparte, 1981

AGE: Mid-Norian–?Rhaetian, Late Triassic ( Arcucci et al., 2004).

OCCURRENCE: La Esquina, La Rioja, Los Colorados Formation, Argentina.

HOLOTYPE: PVL 3850, premaxillae, nasals, fragmentary maxillae and one fragmentary maxilla that includes 10 incomplete teeth, fragmentary pterygoid, unrecognized cranial element, a posterior dentary including the articular, six cervical vertebrae, six dorsal vertebrae, eight caudal vertebrae, incomplete ischium, proximal part of the pubis, complete radius and ulna, right femur, fibula, astragalus and calcaneum, several fragmentary vertebrae, ribs, and osteoderms.

REFERRED MATERIAL: PVL 3851, left maxilla with a few teeth, left dentary with five teeth, articular region, axis, incomplete cervical centra, sacral centra, two sacral vertebrae.

REMARKS: Bonaparte (1981) described Fasolasuchus from two associated skeletons from near the top of the Los Colorados Formation in Argentina. The limb bones and the maxilla indicate that Fasolasuchus was one of the largest suchians from the Triassic and may have reached 8–10 m in length (extrapolated from comparisons with Postosuchus and Saurosuchus ). Only the articular is present in the two known specimens. Although the articulars do not share any unique morphology, the shape and size are very similar and both bear a medially directed process of the articular with a foramen that pierces it, two character states present in Arizonasaurus , Postosuchus kirkpatricki , Polonosuchus , Batrachotomus , Prestosuchus (UFRGS 0152-T), Stagonosuchus , and Rauisuchus . Some of the material described by Bonaparte (1981) such as the nasal could not be located at the time of this study.

KEY REFERENCES: Bonaparte, 1981.