Diandongosuchus
| Diandongosuchus Temporal range: Middle Triassic
| |
|---|---|
| Skull in Beijing Museum of Natural History | |
| Skeletal reconstruction and size comparison, in dorsal (top) and lateral (bottom) views | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Phytosauria |
| Genus: | †Diandongosuchus Li et al., 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Diandongosuchus fuyuanensis Li et al., 2012
| |
Diandongosuchus is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile, possibly a member of the Phytosauria, known from the Middle Triassic of China. The type species Diandongosuchus fuyuanensis was named in 2012 from the Zhuganpo Formation of Yunnan Province. It is a marine species that shows similarities with another Chinese Triassic species called Qianosuchus mixtus, although it has fewer adaptations toward marine life. It was originally classified as the basal-most member of the pseudosuchian clade Poposauroidea. However, a subsequent study conducted by Stocker et al. (2016, 2017) indicated it to be the basalmost known phytosaur instead.