''Theriosuchus'' 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 ...

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 atoposaurid

neosuchia Neosuchia is a clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all Crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorphs more closely related to ''Croc ...

n from

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

(

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

& southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

), Southeast Asia (

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

) and western

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 ...

(

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

), with fragmentary records from Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sites in China, Morocco, and Scotland.

Taxonomy

Three valid species are currently recognized: ''Theriosuchus pusillus'' from southern

, ''T. grandinaris'' from Thailand, and ''T. morrisonensis'' from the

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...

of North America. ''Theriosuchus'' was previously assigned to Atoposauridae, but a 2016 cladistic analysis recovered it as a

n more closely related to members of the family

Paralligatoridae Paralligatoridae is an extinct family of neosuchian crocodyliforms that existed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It includes the genera '' Paralligator'', '' Brillanceausuchus'', '' Kansajsuchus'', '' Shamosuchus'', '' Scolomastax'', ...

than to atoposaurids. Two species previously assigned to this genus, ''Theriosuchus ibericus'' and ''T. symplesiodon'', have been reassigned to the new genus '' Sabresuchus''. On the other hand, ''Theriosuchus guimarotae'' from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

PDF
/ref> has been reassigned to ''

Knoetschkesuchus ''Knoetschkesuchus'' is a genus of small atoposauridae, atoposaurid crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorph from the Late Jurassic of Germany and Portugal. Two species are known: the German species ''K. langenbergensis'', described by Schwarz and colle ...

''.

References

Prehistoric reptiles of Asia Early Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Early Cretaceous reptiles of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1879 Atoposauridae Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera {{paleo-archosaur-stub