Marasuchus

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Marasuchus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 230 Ma
Marasuchus.JPG
Restored skeleton
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauriformes
Genus: †Marasuchus
Sereno & Arcucci, 1994
Species:
† M. lilloensis
Binomial name
Marasuchus lilloensis
(Romer, 1972 [originally Lagosuchus])
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Artist's restoration
Restoration

Marasuchus is a genus of dinosaur-like ornithodiran from the middle Triassic (Ladinian age, about 230 million years ago) Chañares Formation of Argentina. It was a small predator only 40 cm long.[1]

The species Marasuchus lilloensis was originally described as a second species of Lagosuchus, L. lilloensis. However, in a restudy of Lagosuchus by Sereno and Arcucci (1994), the authors concluded that the original (type) specimen was too poorly preserved to allow any further specimens to be assigned to the genus. They also noted that the L. lilloensis specimen had limb proportions different from the type species. On this basis, they assigned L. lilloensis to a new genus, Marasuchus.[2]

References

  1. http://www.palaeocritti.com/by-group/dinosauriformes/marasuchus
  2. Sereno, Paul C. and Arcucci, Andrea B. (1994). "Dinosaurian precursors from the Middle Triassic of Argentina: Marasuchus lilloensis gen. nov." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14: 53-73 Chicago, IL Abstract