Parotosuchus Temporal range: Early Triassic |
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Skull impression of P. nasutus in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Temnospondyli |
Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
Clade: | †Capitosauria |
Family: | †Mastodonsauridae |
Genus: |
†Parotosuchus Otschev and Shishkin, 1968 |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Parotosuchus is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyl within the family Mastodonsauridae. Fossils are known from the Early Triassic of Europe, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. It was about 2 metres (6.6 ft) 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.
Parotosuchus was originally named Parotosaurus. However, the name Parotosaurus was preoccupied by a genus of skinks, and in 1968 the name Parotosuchus was proposed as a replacement. The name Archotosaurus was also proposed as a replacement name in 1976, 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.