Life restoration of Benthosuchus sushkiniUnderside of the skull of the species Benthosuchus korobkovi showing double rows of small teeth and large fangs on the front palate
Benthosuchus (meaning "deep water crocodile") is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Triassic of Russia. It was primarily aquatic, living in rivers and lakes. Multiple species are known, with the largest reaching about 2.5 meters in length.
Russian paleontologist Ivan Yefremov [Efremov] called the genus Benthosaurus "deep water lizard" (from Ancient Greek βένθος (benthos) "depth, deep water") in his original 1929 description, "in view of its clearly indicated adaptation to life in deep water" shown by "the position of the orbits and the flatness of the skull." The type species B. sushkini honored his late teacher Petr Sushkin. The generic name was preoccupied by Benthosaurus Goode & Bean, 1886, a fish, and he renamed the genus Benthosuchus ("deep water crocodile") in 1937.[2][3]
Benthosuchus has traditionally been considered a member of the temnospondyl superfamily Trematosauroidea, and the family Benthosuchidae was established in 1940 to include Benthosuchus and the related trematosauroid Thoosuchus. Some recent phylogenetic studies have removed Benthosuchus from Trematosauroidea entirely, placing it as a closer relative of Mastodonsauroidea, another group of Triassic temnospondyls. Other studies retain Benthosuchus within Trematosauroidea, but since Benthosuchus and Thoosuchus have successively basal positions on these trees they form a paraphyletic grouping, not a valid clade.[4] Benthosuchidae was widely considered to be a monotypic family containing only Benthosuchus, until the discovery of the related Kwatisuchus in 2024.[5]
^Igor Novikov (July 2012). "New data on trematosauroid labyrinthodonts of Eastern Europe: 4. Genus Benthosuchus Efremov, 1937". Paleontological Journal. 46 (4). doi:10.1134/S0031030112040089.
^Efremov, I. A. (1929). Benthosaurus sushkini, ein neuer Labyrinthodont der permotriassischen Ablagerungen der Sharschenga Flusses. Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR8:747-770. [English translation: https://paleoglot.org/files/Efremov%201929b.pdf]
^Efremov, I.A. (1937). On the Stratification of Continental Permian and Triassic the Soviet Union Based on the Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. Nov. Ser. 16(2): 125–132.
^Damiani, R.J.; Yates, A.M. (2003). "The Triassic amphibian Thoosuchus yakovlevi and the relationships of the Trematosauroidea (Temnospondyli: Stereospondyli)" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 55 (3): 331–342. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.55.2003.1388.
^Pinheiro, Felipe L.; Eltink, Estevan; Paes‐Neto, Voltaire D.; Machado, Arielli F.; Simões, Tiago R.; Pierce, Stephanie E. (2024-01-19). "Interrelationships among Early Triassic faunas of Western Gondwana and Laurasia as illuminated by a new South American benthosuchid temnospondyl". The Anatomical Record. doi:10.1002/ar.25384. ISSN 1932-8486.
Bean, 1886, a fish, and he renamed the genus Benthosuchus ("deep water crocodile") in 1937. Benthosuchus has traditionally been considered a member of...
Early Triassic temnospondyls were discovered. Remains of Thoosuchus and Benthosuchus have been found in the Lower Olenekian deposits. Rybinsk is twinned with:...
occurrence of benthosuchids in Gondwana; other benthosuchids such as Benthosuchus are known mainly from Russia. The type and only species, K. rosai, is...
Rybinskian Gorizont is sometimes known as the Benthosuchus fauna, due to abundant fossils of Benthosuchus, a temnospondyl amphibian index fossil. Related...
temnospondyls are known from Tutayev. Remains of Thoosuchus yakovlevi and Benthosuchus korobkovi were found in the Lower Olenekian deposits of this location...
waterways of continental shallows, with large forms like Thoosuchus, Benthosuchus and Eryosuchus. Their ecological niches were probably similar to those...
obviously more active mode of life in water than the mode of life of Benthosuchus" (page 13). For its family, Thoosuchus was fairly small, reaching a little...
Members of the genus lived during the Early Triassic period in Russia (Benthosuchus assemblage zone). Once believed to have been an ancestor to lizards,...
intermediary form between Benthosuchus and Eocyclotosaurus, but this was in part based on the outdated concept of Capitosauria (Benthosuchus is now regarded as...
their teeth as the typical labyrinthodont – such as Benthosuchus sushkini. Both Kotlassia and Benthosuchus had the same number of folds, and it is assumed...
was named in 1979. Fossils are known from two Russian assemblages, the Benthosuchus - Thoosuchus assemblage and the Angusaurus assemblage. Both are Olenekian...
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