Temporal range: Late Oligocene–Early Miocene, 28.1–16 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Clade:
Archosauromorpha
Clade:
Archosauriformes
Order:
Crocodilia
Clade:
†Mekosuchinae
Genus:
†Australosuchus Willis & Molnar, 1991
Type species
†Australosuchus clarkae
Willis & Molnar, 1991
Australosuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of crocodylian belonging to the subfamily Mekosuchinae. The type and only known species Australosuchus clarkae lived during the Late Oligocene and the Early Miocene in the Lake Eyre Basin of South Australia. It was described in 1991 by Paul Willis and Ralph Molnar from fossil material discovered at Lake Palankarinna.
Australosuchus is among the mekosuchines with the southernmost distribution, being found exclusively at a latitude below 27°S, which is the basis for its scientific name meaning "southern crocodile". This range is peculiar, as no material of this species is known from any of the more northern localities, which are known from their highly diverse crocodilian fauna. Likewise, although crocodilian remains are common in the southern localities too, they seem to exclusively belong to Australosuchus, not featuring any of the taxa present in areas such as the Riversleigh World Heritage Area. One explanation suggests that Australosuchus was especially cold-resistant compared to contemporary forms like Baru and was thus able to inhabit freshwater systems too cold for its relatives.
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description, with the fossils of Australosuchus having been mentioned in literature as far back as 1968. The holotype of Australosuchus is specimen QM F16788, a...
associated with generalist crocodilians such as Paludirex, Kambara and Australosuchus. Viewed from the side the skull can be described as slightly wedge-shaped...
as being recovered much closer to today's crocodiles. In addition to Australosuchus, this also affected Quinkana, which nested closely to "Crocodylus" megarhinus...
Type species †Mekosuchus inexpectatus Balouet & Buffetaut, 1987 Genera Australosuchus Baru Harpacochampsa? Kalthifrons Kambara Mekosuchus Paludirex Quinkana...
found Kambara to be second only to Australosuchus, whereas Ristevski et al. alternatively found Australosuchus, Kalthifrons or Kalthifrons and Kambara...
from the traditional composition of Mekosuchinae, with Kambara and Australosuchus being recovered elsewhere in Crocodylia and Mekosuchinae also including...
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