Parotosuchus Explained

Parotosuchus is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyls within the family Mastodonsauridae. Fossils are known from the Early Triassic of Europe, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. It was about 2m (07feet) long and likely lived in aquatic environments such as lakes and rivers. Parotosuchus was covered in a scaly skin, unlike the smooth skin of modern-day amphibians, and probably moved with an eel-like motion in the water.^[1]

Parotosuchus was originally named Parotosaurus. However, the name Parotosaurus was preoccupied by a genus of skinks,^[2] and in 1968 the name Parotosuchus was proposed as a replacement.^[3] The name Archotosaurus was also proposed as a replacement name in 1976,^[4] although the author who proposed this was unaware that Parotosuchus was already in use. Because the name Parotosuchus was erected earlier than Archotosaurus, it has priority.^[5]

Phylogeny

Parotosuchus in a cladogram after Novikov (2018) with only Early Triassic Eastern Europe taxa included:^[6]

Further reading

• Parotosuchus (Temnospondyli: Mastodonsauridae) from the Triassic of Antarctica. Christian A. Sidor, J. Sebastien Steyer and Ross Damiani, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2007, 27(1):232–235

Notes and References

1. https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070403/sc_afp/sciencepalaeontologyfossilantarctica;_ylt=A0SOwka0uSBGD5EA9A8PLBIF Yahoo News: Antarctic fossil prompts rethink about amphibian history
2. Linkem . C.W. . Diesmos, A.C. . Brown, R.M. . 2010 . A new species of scincid lizard (genus Sphenomorphus) from Palawan Island, Philippines . Herpetologica . 66 . 1 . 67–79 . 10.1655/08-074.1 . 17889198 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140115095553/http://www.nhm.ku.edu/rbrown/Rafes%20PDF%20publications/Linkem.etal.2010.traanorum.pdf . dead . 2014-01-15 .
3. Book: Kalandadze, N.N. . Ochev, V.G. . Tatarinov, L.P. . Chudinov, P.K. . Shishkin, M.A. . 1968 . Catalogue of Permian and Triassic tetrapods of the U.S.S.R. . Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic Amphibians and Reptiles of the U.S.S.R. . Nauka . Moscow . 72–79.
4. Patton . R.L. . 1976 . A replacement name for Parotosuchus Jaekel (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia) . Palaeontology . 19 . 2 . 415–416 .
5. Damiani . R. J. . Parotosuchus (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (Early Triassic) of South Africa: Cranial morphology and relationships . 10.1080/03115510108619226 . Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology . 25 . 4 . 351–379 . 2002 . 128483774 .
6. Book: Novikov A.V.. 2018. Early Triassic amphibians of Eastern Europe: evolution of dominant groups and peculiarities of changing communities. Moscow: RAS. 138. ru. 978-5-906906-71-7. Web site: Archive copy . December 8, 2023 .