Chanaresuchus
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Chanaresuchus Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 236–234 Ma |
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| Life restoration of Chanaresuchus bonapartei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | †Proterochampsia |
| Family: | †Proterochampsidae |
| Subfamily: | †Rhadinosuchinae |
| Genus: |
†Chanaresuchus Romer, 1971 |
| Type species | |
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†Chanaresuchus bonapartei Romer, 1971 |
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Chanaresuchus is an extinct genus of proterochampsian archosauriform. It was of modest size for a proterochampsian, being on average just over a meter in length. Fossils are known from the Middle and Late Triassic of La Rioja Provence, Argentina and Rio Grande do Sul (geoparque Paleorrota), Brazil. The type species and only currently known species is Chanaresuchus bonapartei was named from the Ladinian-age Chañares Formation in 1971. A second species C. ischigualastensis named in 2012 from the late Carnian-age Ischigualasto Formation, was briefly assigned to Chanaresuchus before being moved to its own genus Pseudochampsa in 2014.C. bonapartei has recently been found in the Carnian Santa Maria Formation in Brazil.Chanaresuchus appears to be one of the most common archosauriforms from the Chanares Formation due to the abundance of specimens referred to the genus. Much of the material has been found by the La Plata-Harvard expedition of 1964-65. Chanaresuchus was originally classified in the family Proterochampsidae, although it has been placed in the family Rhadinosuchidae in more recent studies (both families belong to the larger group Proterochampsia).
Chanaresuchus has a low, elongate skull that is characteristic of proterochampsians. The skull is quite broad posteriorly with a narrow snout, varying in length from around 165mm to 260mm in the largest individuals. The nares are slit-like and positioned away from the tip of the rostrum, farther up the skull. The premaxilla is slightly down-curved. The skull table is highly ornamented in larger specimens, with the dermal bones well sculptured. The palate of Chanaresuchus has two elongate choanae. Two small openings anterior to the choanae may be anterior palatine foramina that could have been used for access to vomeronasal organs. The secondary palate formed between these two sets of openings may have been an adaptation for breathing through the snout while underwater.
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