A new protosuchid crocodyliform (Pseudosuchia, Crocodylomorpha) from the Norian Los Colorados Formation, northwestern Argentina

Abstract

Protosuchids are known from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous and form a basal clade of Crocodyliformes. We report here a new protosuchid crocodyliform, Coloradisuchus abelini, gen. et sp. nov., from the middle Norian Los Colorados Formation, La Rioja, northwestern Argentina. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers Coloradisuchus abelini within Protosuchidae, as the sister group of the clade formed by Hemiprotosuchus and two species of Protosuchus (P. richardsoni and P. haughtoni). The new protosuchid C. abelini increases the diversity of crocodyliforms in the Late Triassic and, together with H. leali from the same stratigraphic levels of the Los Colorados Formation, shows that the diversification of basal crocodyliforms was probably faster and/or older than thought previously. http://.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:66629B34-42E4-4F6D-A56C-B082D749AB4B SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP Citation for this article: Martínez, R. N., O. A. Alcober, and D. Pol. 2019. A new protosuchid crocodyliform (Pseudosuchia, Crocodylomorpha) from the Norian Los Colorados Formation, northwestern Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1491047.