Tikisuchus
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Tikisuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Subclass: | Diapsida |
| Infraclass: | Archosauromorpha |
| Superorder: | Crocodylomorpha |
| (unranked): | Crurotarsi |
| Order: | Rauisuchia |
| Family: | Rauisuchidae |
| Genus: |
Tikisuchus Chatterjee and Majumdar, 1987 |
| Species | |
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Tikisuchus is an extinct genus of rauisuchid archosauromorph. It is known from the Late Triassic Tiki Formation in the Shahdol District of central India and was the first rauisuchid to have been found in Asia. The horizon from which remains have been found is Carnian in age. The type species is T. romeri, named in honor of American paleontologist Alfred Romer. Romer was present at the Tiki locality during the excavation of the fossil, but died before the description of the genus in 1987. Tikisuchus is known only from one specimen, called ISI R 305, which consists of the skull and some postcranial elements of a young individual.
Compared to other rausuchids, the skull of Tikisuchus was very large. The skull's length is around 40% of the length of the presacral area between the head and the sacrum. The skull is deep, being wide at the back with a narrow rostrum. The teeth are large, recurved and serrated. Like other rauisuchids, it has rows of osteoderms, or bony scutes, along its back. There are two rows of osteoderms. Each osteoderm is rectangular in shape and imbricates, or articulates tightly, with the ones around it. In other rauisuchids, the osteoderms are leaf-shaped rather than rectangular.
Many other tetrapods were found in association with Tikisuchus representing a diverse Carnian paleofauna. Tetrapods from the Tiki site include Paleorhinus, a phytosaur, Metoposaurus, a temnospondyl, and Paradapedon, a rhynchosaur. The Tiki fauna is similar to that of the German Keuper.
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