Shansisuchus

Shansisuchus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic,
Skeletal reconstruction based on several specimens
Skull diagram
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Family: Erythrosuchidae
Genus: Shansisuchus
Young, 1964
Type species
Shansisuchus shansisuchus
Young, 1964
Species
  • Shansisuchus kuyeheensis
  • Shansisuchus shansisuchus

Shansisuchus (meaning "Shanxi Province crocodile") is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile belonging to the family Erythrosuchidae that lived during the Middle Triassic in what is now China. The first fossils of Shansisuchus were discovered from the Ermaying Formation of Shanxi (Shansi) province in 1964 by Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian. Like other erythrosuchids, Shansisuchus was a large-bodied carnivore with a large, deep skull. Shansisuchus is unique among early archosauriforms in having a hole in its skull called a subnarial fenestra.