Shuvosauridae is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of theropod-like
pseudosuchia
Pseudosuchia, from Ancient Greek ψεύδος (''pseúdos)'', meaning "false", and σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile" is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely relat ...
ns within the clade
Poposauroidea
Poposauroidea is a clade of advanced Pseudosuchian, pseudosuchians. It includes poposaurids, Shuvosaurinae, shuvosaurids, ctenosauriscids, and other unusual pseudosuchians such as ''Qianosuchus'' and ''Lotosaurus''. It excludes most large predato ...
. Shuvosaurids existed in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
(
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
(
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
) during the Late
Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
period (late
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 ...
to
Rhaetian
The Rhaetian is the latest age (geology), age of the Triassic period (geology), Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Triassic system (stratigraphy), System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the N ...
stages). Shuvosauridae was named by
Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee (born May 28, 1943) is a paleontology, paleontologist, the Paul W. Horn Professor of Earth science, Geosciences at Texas Tech University and curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University. He earned his Doctor of ...
in 1993 to include the genus ''
Shuvosaurus
''Shuvosaurus'' (meaning "Shuvo hatterjees lizard") is a genus of beaked, bipedal poposauroid pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic (early to middle Norian) of western Texas. Despite superficially resembling a Theropoda, theropod dinosaur, es ...
''.
In a 2007 study ''Chatterjeea'' was demonstrated to be a
junior synonym
In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.
...
of ''
Shuvosaurus
''Shuvosaurus'' (meaning "Shuvo hatterjees lizard") is a genus of beaked, bipedal poposauroid pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic (early to middle Norian) of western Texas. Despite superficially resembling a Theropoda, theropod dinosaur, es ...
'', and the therein cladistic analysis found that ''
Shuvosaurus
''Shuvosaurus'' (meaning "Shuvo hatterjees lizard") is a genus of beaked, bipedal poposauroid pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic (early to middle Norian) of western Texas. Despite superficially resembling a Theropoda, theropod dinosaur, es ...
'', ''
Effigia
''Effigia'' is an extinct genus of shuvosaurid known from the Late Triassic of New Mexico, south-western USA. With a bipedal stance, long neck, and a toothless beaked skull, ''Effigia'' and other shuvosaurids bore a resemblance to the ornithomimi ...
'' and ''
Sillosuchus
''Sillosuchus'' is a genus of shuvosaurid poposauroid archosaur that lived in South America during the Late Triassic period. Shuvosaurids were an unusual family of reptiles belonging to the group Poposauroidea; although their closest modern relati ...
'' all form a
closely related group. However, this group was left nameless, and simply referred to as Group Y. However, in accordance with
ICZN
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...
rules of naming priority Shuvosauridae has priority over Chatterjeeidae (Shuvosauridae being named in 1993,
while Chatterjeeidae was named in 1995).
In 2011,
Sterling J. Nesbitt proposed a new definition to this clade: "The least inclusive clade containing ''
Shuvosaurus
''Shuvosaurus'' (meaning "Shuvo hatterjees lizard") is a genus of beaked, bipedal poposauroid pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic (early to middle Norian) of western Texas. Despite superficially resembling a Theropoda, theropod dinosaur, es ...
inexpectatus'' Chatterjee, 1993, and ''
Sillosuchus
''Sillosuchus'' is a genus of shuvosaurid poposauroid archosaur that lived in South America during the Late Triassic period. Shuvosaurids were an unusual family of reptiles belonging to the group Poposauroidea; although their closest modern relati ...
longicervix'' Alcober and Parrish, 1997".
References
Poposauroidea
Triassic archosaurs
Triassic reptiles of North America
Triassic reptiles of South America
Carnian first appearances
Rhaetian extinctions
Pseudosuchian families
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