Turfanosuchus

Taxobox
name = "Turfanosuchus"

---

fossil_range = Middle Triassic
image_width = 250px
image_caption = A specimen of "Turfanosuchus dabanensis", on display at the Paleozoological Museum of China.
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
infraclassis = Archosauromorpha
unranked_ordo = Archosauriformes
familia =
genus = "Turfanosuchus"
binomial = "Turfanosuchus dabanensis"
binomial_authority = Young, 1973

"Turfanosuchus" is a genus of archosauriform reptile which lived during the Middle Triassic of northwestern China. The type species, "T. dabanensis", was described by C.C. Young in 1973, based on a partially complete but disarticulated fossil skeleton (IVPP V.32237). Young originally believed that the fossils came from an animal similar to "Euparkeria", and assigned it to the family Euparkeriidae. The fossil, however, was not fully prepared. Subsequent analysis by Parrish in 1993 indicated that the fossils represented a suchian.

In 2001, Xiao-Chun Wu (of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing) and Anthony Russell (of the University of Calgary) redescribed the fossil. Wu and Russell prepared the fossil, and noted the limb bones (femur and humerus) resembled those of "Ticinosuchus" and "Euparkeria", though the calcaneum did not. Further preparation revealed a partial osteoderm. Wu and Russell concluded that "Turfanosuchus" was not a suchian nor even a member of the Crurotarsi. They also ruled out the possibility of a close relationship with "Euparkeria".

References

cite journal
last = Wu
first = Xiao-Chun
authorlink =
coauthors = Russell, Anthony
title = Redescription of "Turfanosuchus dabanensis" (Archosauriformes) and new information on its phylogenetic relationships"
journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
volume = 21
issue = 1
pages = 40-50
publisher =
location =
date = 2001
url = http://www.sinofossa.org/upfiles/200759111714.pdf
doi =
id =
accessdate = 2008-06-08

External links

* [http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=100513&is_real_user=1 "Turfanosuchus"] in the Paleobiology Database