''Vonhuenia'' (named after Friedrich von Huene) 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 proterosuchid, a basal archosauriform from the

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Fossils have been found in the Vokhminskaya Formation, along the Vetluga River that are

Induan The Induan is the first age of the Early Triassic epoch in the geologic timescale, or the lowest stage of the Lower Triassic series in chronostratigraphy. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and 249.9 Ma (million years ago). The Induan is so ...

in age, making ''Vonhuenia'' one of the earliest archosauriforms.

Classification

The type species ''V. friedrichi'', named in 1992, is based on material that was misassigned to the genus '' Chasmatosuchus'' by Ochev (1978). Although originally classified as a proterosuchid, a 2016 cladistic analysis by Ezcurra ''et al''. recovered it as a non-eucrocopodan archosauriform of uncertain position.Ezcurra, M.D. (2016),The phylogenetic relationships of basal archosauromorphs, with an emphasis on the systematics of proterosuchian archosauriforms. PeerJ4:e1778;DOI10.7717/peerj.1778 However, a 2023 cladistic analysis of the Proterosuchidae, again by Ezcurra ''et al.'', again recovered ''Vonhuenia'' as a proterosuchid, specifically as a basal member of the subfamily Chasmatosuchinae. The earliest known proterosuchid and archosauromorph, '' Archosaurus'', is also placed in Chasmatosuchinae but is thought to be more derived than ''Vonhuenia'', suggesting that the ancestors of ''Vonhuenia'' diverged from other chasmatosuchines during the

Late Permian Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

Paleobiology

''Vonhuenia'' was a small archosauriform that lived alongside amphibians like '' Tupilakosaurus'' and '' Luzocephalus'', small reptiles like '' Phaanthosaurus'', and the large-bodied

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, t ...

'' Lystrosaurus'' in the earliest Triassic.

References

Proterosuchidae Prehistoric reptile genera Early Triassic reptiles of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1992 {{triassic-reptile-stub