Portugalosuchus (meaning "crocodile from Portugal") is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliform that was possibly a basal crocodylian – if so then it would be the oldest known crocodylian to date.[2] The type species is P. azenhae, described in 2018,[2] and it is known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged Tentugal Formation in Portugal.[3] A 2021 morphological study recovered Portugalosuchus within Crocodylia as a member of Gavialidae closely related to similar "thoracosaurs" (e.g. Thoracosaurus), while also noting that it might also possibly be outside of Crocodylia completely.[1] A 2022 tip dating analysis incorporating both morphological and DNA data placed Portugalosuchus outside of Crocodylia, as the sister taxon of the family Allodaposuchidae. A cladogram simplified after that analysis is shown below:[4]
| Portugalosuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous: Cenomanian,
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
| Genus: | †Portugalosuchus Mateus et al., 2018 |
| Species: | †P. azenhae
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Portugalosuchus azenhae | |
| Eusuchia |
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The morphology-based phylogenetic analyses based on the new neuroanatomical data obtained from its skull using micro-CT scans suggested that this taxon is a crown group crocodilian and a member of the 'thoracosaurs', recovered as a sister taxon of Thoracosaurus within Gavialoidea,[5] though it is uncertain whether 'thoracosaurs' were true gavialoids.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
- ^ a b Octávio Mateus; Eduardo Puértolas-Pascual; Pedro M. Callapez (2018). "A new eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Portugal reveals novel implications on the origin of Crocodylia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (2): 501–528. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly064.
- ^ "Portugalosuchus". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Darlim, G.; Lee, M. S. Y.; Walter, J.; Rabi, M. (2022). "The impact of molecular data on the phylogenetic position of the putative oldest crown crocodilian and the age of the clade". Biology Letters. 18 (2): 20210603. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0603. PMC 8825999. PMID 35135314.
- ^ Puértolas‐Pascual, Eduardo; Kuzmin, Ivan T.; Serrano‐Martínez, Alejandro; Mateus, Octávio (2023-02-02). "Neuroanatomy of the crocodylomorph Portugalosuchus azenhae from the late cretaceous of Portugal". Journal of Anatomy: joa.13836. doi:10.1111/joa.13836. ISSN 0021-8782.
- ^ Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 505. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8079395. PMID 33907305.
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