Baurusuchinae

Baurusuchinae is a subfamily of baurusuchid crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. Named in 2011, it contains the baurusuchids Baurusuchus and Stratiotosuchus. Baurusuchinae is one of two subfamilies of Baurusuchidae, the other being Pissarrachampsinae.[1]

Baurusuchinae
Temporal range: Campanian - Maastrichtian
Skull of Baurusuchus salgadoensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: †Sebecosuchia
Family: †Baurusuchidae
Subfamily: †Baurusuchinae
Montefeltro et al., 2011

Several features distinguish baurusuchines from pissarrachampsines and help diagnose the subfamily. The two prefrontal bones on the top of the skull are connected along a small length of midline of the skull, while those of pissarrachampsines touch only at a small point. The frontal bone, situated behind the prefrontals, is very wide. Baurusuchines also have ridges on parts of their palate. The quadratojugal, a bone within a depression of the skull behind the eye called the laterotemporal fenestra, extends up to the rim of the fenestra or ends just below it. There is also a straight or somewhat curved muscle scar on the medial surface of the quadrate bone.[1]

Baurusuchinae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2011 as Baurusuchus pachecoi and all crocodyliforms more closely related to it than to Pissarrachampsa sera, Notosuchus terrestris, Mariliasuchus amarali, Armadillosuchus arrudai, Araripesuchus gomesi, Sebecus icaeorhinus, Bretesuchus bonapartei, Peirosaurus torminni, and Crocodylus niloticus.[1]

Baurusuchines are only found in the Bauru Basin of Brazil, and are therefore endemic to the Bauru Group. Because of their restricted stratigraphic and geographic range, baurusuchines were probably sympatric, living in the same environment at the same time. Alternatively, they may have been stratigraphically separated, meaning that each species lived at a slightly different time.[1]

References
  1. Montefeltro, F.C.; Larsson, H.C.E.; Langer, M.C. (2011). "A new baurusuchid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil and the phylogeny of Baurusuchidae". PLoS ONE. 6 (7): e21916. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021916. PMC 3135595. PMID 21765925.


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