''Arganasaurus'' is an extinct
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
temnospondyl
Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order (biology), order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered Labyrinth ...
s belonging to the family
Metoposauridae
Metoposauridae is an extinct family of trematosaurian temnospondyls. The family is known from the Triassic period. Most members are large, approximately long and could reach 3 m long.Brusatte, S. L., Butler R. J., Mateus O., & Steyer S. J. (20 ...
that lived in Morocco during the Late Triassic (
Carnian
The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227.3 ...
).
Taxonomy
The type species of ''Arganasaurus'', ''A. lyazidi'', was originally described as ''Metoposaurus lyazidi'' by Dutuit (1976) on the basis of skulls found in the
Argana Formation of northern Morocco. Hunt (1993) found the species generically distinct from the ''Metoposaurus'' type species to warrant its own genus, which he named ''Arganasaurus''.
The nominal species ''"Metoposaurus" azerouali'' Dutuit, 1976, treated as a ''nomen dubium'' by Hunt (1993), was referred to ''Arganasaurus'' by Buffa ''et al.'' (2019).
[Valentin Buffa; Nour-Eddine Jalil; J.-Sebastien Steyer (2019). "Redescription of ''Arganasaurus (Metoposaurus) azerouali'' (Dutuit) comb. nov. from the Upper Triassic of the Argana Basin (Morocco), and the first phylogenetic analysis of the Metoposauridae (Amphibia, Temnospondyli)". Papers in Palaeontology. in press. .]
Habitat
''Arganasaurus'' is one of two metoposaurids that inhabited the Argana Basin in the Late Triassic, the other being ''
Dutuitosaurus''. Tetrapods living alongside the two metoposaurids included the allokotosaur ''
Azendohsaurus laaroussi'', the phytosaurs ''
Arganarhinus'' and ''
Moroccorhinus'', the silesaurid ''
Diodorus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, b ...
'', the stahleckeriid ''
Moghreberia'', and the rauisuchid ''
Arganasuchus
''Arganasuchus'' is an extinct genus of " rauisuchian" (loricatan) archosaur. It is known from a single species, ''Arganasuchus dutuiti''. Fossils of this genus have been found in Upper Triassic rocks of the Argana Basin, Morocco. Though its re ...
''.
See also
*
Prehistoric amphibian
This list of prehistoric amphibians is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera from the fossil record that have ever been considered to be amphibians, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted gen ...
*
List of prehistoric amphibians
This list of prehistoric amphibians is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera from the fossil record that have ever been considered to be amphibians, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted gen ...
References
Metoposauridae
Carnian genera
Triassic temnospondyls of Africa
Fossils of Morocco
Fossil taxa described in 1993
{{temnospondyli-stub