| Lohuecosuchus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skull and mandible ofLohuecosuchus megadontos | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
| Clade: | Eusuchia |
| Clade: | †Allodaposuchidae |
| Genus: | †Lohuecosuchus Narváez et al., 2015 |
| Type species | |
| †Lohuecosuchus megadontos Narváezet al. 2015 | |
| Species | |
Lohuecosuchus (meaning "Lo Huecocrocodile") is anextinctgenus ofallodaposuchideusuchiancrocodylomorph that lived during theLate Cretaceous (lateCampanian to earlyMaastrichtian) in what is nowSpain and southernFrance.
The anatomy of the endocranium (braincase) ofL. megadontos was found to be similar to crown-crocodylians, revealing that the acute sense of olfaction and low frequency hearing found in living crocodylians likely originated along the stem-line.[2]
Lohuecosuchus is a member of thecladeAllodaposuchidae, a group ofeusuchians that lived in southern Europe during theLate Cretaceous.[3] Two species ofLohuecosuchus weredescribed in 2015. Thetype species,Lohuecosuchus megadontos, was recovered from theLo Hueco fossil site of theVillalba de la Sierra Formation in the municipality ofFuentes,Cuenca Province atCastilla-La Mancha of centralSpain. Thespecies namemegadontos is composed of the Greek words "mega" (meaning big) and "odon" (meaning tooth), in reference to the relatively large size of the teeth.[3] The second species,Lohuecosuchus mechinorum, was found at theFox-Amphoux fossil site of theGrès à Reptiles Formation in theDepartment of Var in southeasternFrance, and was named after the discoverers of theholotype, Patrick and Annie Mechin.[3]
Lohuecosuchus was both synchronic andsympatric (lived at the same time and place) with another allodaposuchid species,Agaresuchus fontisensis.[4]Lohuecosuchus is also closely related toAllodaposuchus, another genus from southern Europe that includes several species.
However, a 2021phylogenetic analysis considering additionalpostcranial material recoveredAllodaposuchus asparaphyletic with respect toAgaresuchus andLohuecosuchus, and suggested that bothAgaresuchus andLohuecosuchus belong within the genusAllodaposuchus proper, which would render them asjunior synonyms ofAllodaposuchus.[5] Thecladogram from Blanco's 2021 study is shown below:[5]
| Allodaposuchidae |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
