Agaresuchus

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Agaresuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous: Campanian-Maastrichtian,
~84.9–66.043  Ma
Allodaposuchus subjuniperus.jpg
Holotype skull of Agaresuchus subjuniperus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Clade: Neosuchia
Clade: Eusuchia
Clade: Allodaposuchidae
Genus: Agaresuchus
Narváez et al., 2016
Type species
Agaresuchus fontisensis
Narváez et al., 2016
Species
  • Agaresuchus fontisensisNarváez et al., 2016
  • Agaresuchus subjuniperus(Puértolas et al., 2013)

Agaresuchus is an extinct genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Spain. It includes two species, the type species Agaresuchus fontisensis, and Agaresuchus subjuniperus, which was originally named as a species of the related genus Allodaposuchus . However, it has been proposed that both species may instead belong to the genus Allodaposuchus.

Discovery and naming

The genus Agaresuchus was named in 2016 upon the discovery of Agaresuchus fontisensis . Allodaposuchus subjuniperus, discovered in 2013 and originally classified as a new and second species of Allodaposuchus , was then reassigned to Agaresuchus.

A. subjuniperus was named in 2013 on the basis of a skull from the late Maastrichtian-aged Conquès Formation, part of the Tremp Group, in the province of Huesca, Spain. The skull was found underneath a juniper tree whose roots had grown between the bones, hence the specific name subjuniperus or "under juniper" in Latin. [1]

In 2016, the new genus and species Agaresuchus fontisensis was discovered and described. The genus name refers to the demon Agares, depicted by Johann Weyer as an old man riding a crocodile. The specific name was named from the Lo Hueco fossil site in Fuentes, Cuenca, Spain; fontes is the Latin name of Fuentes.

The two species differ in traits such as the shape of the snout (elongated in the former, short in the latter); the shape of the premaxilla (longer than wide compared to wider than long); the number of maxillary tooth sockets (15 compared to 14); the shape of the eye sockets (large and round compared to short and crescent-shaped); the width between the eyes (narrow compared to characteristically broad); and characteristics of the palate and nasal bones. However, they were considered to be sufficiently distinct from the eastern European Allodaposuchus precedens to warrant a new genus. [2]

Alternatively, a 2021 phylogenetic analysis considering additional postcranial material recovered Allodaposuchus as paraphyletic with respect to Agaresuchus and Lohuecosuchus , and suggested that both A. fontisensis and A. subjuniperus belong within the genus Allodaposuchus proper, which would render Agaresuchus as a junior synonym of Allodaposuchus. [3] The cladogram from Blanco's 2021 study is shown below: [3]

Allodaposuchidae

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References

  1. Puértolas-Pascual, E.; Canudo, J.I.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2014). "The eusuchian crocodylomorph Allodaposuchus subjuniperus sp. nov., a new species from the latest Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian) of Spain". Historical Biology. 26 (1): 91–109. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.763034. S2CID   85004774.
  2. Narváez, I.; Brochu, C.A.; Escaso, F.; Pérez-García, A.; Ortega, F. (2016). "New Spanish Late Cretaceous eusuchian reveals the synchronic and sympatric presence of two allodaposuchids". Cretaceous Research. 65: 112–125. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.04.018 .
  3. 1 2 Blanco, A. (2021). "Importance of the postcranial skeleton in eusuchian phylogeny: Reassessing the systematics of allodaposuchid crocodylians". PLOS ONE. 16 (6): e0251900. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1651900B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251900 . PMC   8189472 . PMID   34106925.