''Miadanasuchus'' is an extinct genus of

peirosaurid Peirosauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Cretaceous period. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodyliforms that evolved a rather dog-like skull, and were terrestrial carnivores. It was phylogenetically defined ...

notosuchian Notosuchia is a clade of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian Crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogeny, phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group ...

which lived in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

during the late

Cretaceous period The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geologi ...

. The species was first described as ''Trematochampsa oblita'' by

Éric Buffetaut Éric Buffetaut (born 19 November 1950) is a French paleontologist, author and researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique since 1976 where he is a Doctor of Science and Director of Research. Buffetaut is a specialist of fossil ...

and

Philippe Taquet Philippe Taquet (born 25 April 1940 Saint-Quentin, Aisne) is a French paleontologist who specializes in dinosaur systematics of finds primarily in northern Africa. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences since 30 November 2004, president ...

in 1979, based on fossils found in an unknown member of the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

aged

Maevarano Formation The Maevarano Formation is a Late Cretaceous sedimentary formation (geology), rock formation found in the Mahajanga Province of northwestern Madagascar. It is most likely Maastrichtian in age, and records a seasonal, semiarid environment with rive ...

. Since 1993, subsequent discoveries in the Miadana Hills, near the village of

Berivotra Berivotra is a rural municipality in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Maevatanana, which is a part of Betsiboka Region. The population of the municipality was 14,675 in 2018. Infrastructure It is situated on the Route Nationale 4 fro ...

, brought more material of the species to scientific attention. In 2009, Erin L. Rasmusson Simons and Gregory A. Buckley determined that since there was "an absence of

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ...

between '' Trematochampsa taqueti'' and ''Miadanasuchus oblita'' to the exception of all other trematochampsids", it warranted the erection of a new genus. Apart from the material known from the Maevarano, additional material referred to ''Miadanasuchus'' (teeth, vertebrae, and a single osteoderm) has also been found in the

Ankazomihaboka Formation The Ankazomihaboka Formation is a Coniacian geologic formation in the Mahajanga Basin of northwestern Madagascar. The formation comprises claystones and sandstones deposited in a fluvial to lacustrine environment.Coniacian The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by ...

. Its teeth were irregularly spaced and variable in height.

References

Peirosauridae Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Maevarano fauna Crocodylomorphs of Madagascar Fossil taxa described in 2009 Maastrichtian life {{paleo-archosaur-stub