Extinct genus of reptiles
Portugalosuchus Portugal ") is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliform that was possibly a basal crocodylian – if so then it would be the oldest known crocodylian to date.[ 2] type species is P. azenhae described in 2018,[ 2] Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian )-aged Tentugal Formation in Portugal .[ 3] morphological study recovered Portugalosuchus within Crocodylia as a member of Gavialidae closely related to similar "thoracosaurs" (e.g. Thoracosaurus [ 1] tip dating analysis incorporating both morphological and DNA data placed Portugalosuchus outside of Crocodylia, as the sister taxon of the family Allodaposuchidae . A cladogram simplified after that analysis is shown below:[ 4]
The morphology-based phylogenetic analyses based on the new neuroanatomical data obtained from its skull using micro-CT scans suggested that this taxon is a crown group crocodilian and a member of the 'thoracosaurs', recovered as a sister taxon of Thoracosaurus [ 5] [ 6]
References
^ a b Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem" . PeerJ 9 : e12094. doi :10.7717/peerj.12094 PMC 8428266 PMID 34567843 . ^ a b Octávio Mateus; Eduardo Puértolas-Pascual; Pedro M. Callapez (2018). "A new eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Portugal reveals novel implications on the origin of Crocodylia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 186 (2): 501– 528. doi :10.1093/zoolinnean/zly064 . ^ "Portugalosuchus " . Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021 .^ Darlim, G.; Lee, M. S. Y.; Walter, J.; Rabi, M. (2022). "The impact of molecular data on the phylogenetic position of the putative oldest crown crocodilian and the age of the clade" . Biology Letters . 18 (2): 20210603. doi :10.1098/rsbl.2021.0603 . PMC 8825999 PMID 35135314 . ^ Puértolas‐Pascual, Eduardo; Kuzmin, Ivan T.; Serrano‐Martínez, Alejandro; Mateus, Octávio (2023-02-02). "Neuroanatomy of the crocodylomorph Portugalosuchus azenhae from the late cretaceous of Portugal" . Journal of Anatomy : joa.13836. doi :10.1111/joa.13836 ISSN 0021-8782 . ^ Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus" . Communications Biology . 4 (1): 505. doi :10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0 ISSN 2399-3642 . PMC 8079395 PMID 33907305 .
