Spinosuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
Clade: | †Allokotosauria |
Order: | †Trilophosauria |
Family: | †Trilophosauridae |
Genus: | †Spinosuchus von Huene, 1932 |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Spinosuchus (meaning "spined crocodile") is an extinct genus of trilophosaurid allokotosaur from the Late Triassic of Texas, southern United States. It has been assigned to a variety of groups over its history, from coelophysid dinosaur to pseudosuchian to uncertain theropod dinosaur and to Proterosuchidae. This uncertainty is not unusual, given that it was only known from a poorly preserved, wall-mounted, partial vertebral column of an animal that lived in a time of diverse, poorly known reptile groups. However, newly collected material and recent phylogenetic studies of early archosauromorphs suggest that it represents an advanced trilophosaurid very closely related to Trilophosaurus.[1][2]