Goniopholis phuwiangensis
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Sunosuchus Temporal range: Middle - Late Jurassic, 164.7–155.7 Ma (possible Early Jurassic or Early Cretaceous occurrence) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Family: | †Goniopholididae |
| Genus: |
†Sunosuchus Young, 1948 |
| Species | |
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Sunosuchus is an extinct genus of goniopholidid mesoeucrocodylian. Fossils are known from China, Kyrgyzstan, and Thailand and are Jurassic in age, although some may be Early Cretaceous. Four species are currently assigned to the genus: the type species S. miaoi and the species S. junggarensis, S. shartegensis, and S. shunanensis. All species are from China. Goniopholis phuwiangensis, also from Thailand, was reassigned to Sunosuchus by Andrade et al. (2011). The material from Kyrgyzstan has not been assigned to any species.
Sunosuchus has a long, narrow snout and a small skull table. Several characters help diagnose Sunosuchus and distinguish it from other taxa. For example, there are wide pits on the back of the frontal bone. The frontal bone also has a distinctive ridge along part of its midline. The lower jaw has a long symphysis where the two halves come together. This symphysis is formed mostly from the mandibles, but also partially by the splenials. Unlike other goniopholidids, the squamosal bone (which is found near the back of the skull) is narrow.
S. junggarensis is the best known species of Sunosuchus. It was first described in 1996 from the Late Jurassic Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China. Material belonging to Sunosuchus was collected from Kyrgyzstan in the 1980s and was described in 2000. Many teeth were found, as well as a dorsal vertebra and some vertebral centra, some pelvic bones, part of a fibula and tibia, a few metatarsals, and ventral and neck osteoderms. The only parts of the skull uncovered were squamosal bones. The squamosals are similar to those of other species of Sunosuchus but not those of other genera, which indicates that the material belongs to a species of Sunosuchus. While the specimens bear a strong resemblance to the bones of S. junggarensis, they have not been assigned to any species.
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