| Pedeticosaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
| Genus: | †Pedeticosaurus Van Hoepen, 1915 |
| Type species | |
| †Pedeticosaurus leviseuri Van Hoepen, 1915 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Pedeticosaurus is anextinctgenus ofcrocodylomorph from theClarens Formation (Early Jurassic) ofSouth Africa. Thetype speciesPedeticosaurus leviseuri was named byEgbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen in 1915[1] on the basis of amold of a mostly complete skeleton found in a quarry nearRosendal, Free State. The mold preserves most of the right half of the skeleton including the skull, ribs,dorsal vertebrae, forelimbs and hindlimbs, but not the tail. It is currently housed in theNational Museum in Bloemfontein and cataloged asNMQR606.[2]
Van Hoepen originally established a new family forPedeticosaurus called Pedeticosauridae, which he thought was closely related to the familyOrnithosuchidae.[3] In later yearsPedeticosaurus was interpreted as either a member ofSphenosuchia orProtosuchia, both of which are groups of small-bodied Jurassic crocodylomorphs.[2] Paleontologist A. D. Walker erected a new group called Pedeticosauria in 1968,[4] which he named afterPedeticosaurus and is now considered equivalent to Sphenosuchia.[2] In 1986, James M. Clark proposed thatPedeticosaurus leviseuri was asynonym of the better known protosuchian speciesProtosuchus haughtoni based on features such as a broadscapula bone with a concave front margin and a largesquamosal bone in the skull. In 2002, Clark andHans-Dieter Sues proposed thatPedeticosaurus leviseuri was anomen dubium or "doubtful name" given that the features in QS 606 are too poorly preserved to distinguishP. leviseuri as its own species.[2]
Paleontologists C. E. Gow andJames Kitching of theBernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research referred a second skeleton toPedeticosaurus in 1988. This skeleton was found just below the Clarens Formation in the slightly olderElliot Formation. It is housed in the Bernard Price Institute and cataloged as BP/1/5237. Gow and Kitching classified it asPedeticosaurus sp. and considered it a sphenosuchian. In 2002, Clark and Sues assigned BP/1/5237 to a new genus and species of sphenosuchian namedLitargosuchus leptorhynchus.[2]
