| Sulcusuchus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Polycotylidae |
| Genus: | †Sulcusuchus Gasparini & Spalletti 1990 |
| Species: | †S. erraini |
| Binomial name | |
| †Sulcusuchus erraini Gasparini & Spalletti 1990 | |
Sulcusuchus is a genus ofpolycotylidplesiosaur from theLate Campanian toEarly Maastrichtian ofArgentina.
Thetype speciesSulcusuchus erraini was named in 1990 byZulma Brandoni de Gasparini andLuis Spalletti. It was at first considered to have been adyrosaurid crocodile, hence its generic name: "trough crocodile". Itsholotype,MPEF 650, was atJacobacci,Río Negro Province, uncovered in a layer of the lateCampanianLa Colonia Formation. It consists of a posterior left mandible fragment of about half a meter long with an associated jaw joint condyle of the skull, lower braincase, rear palate and middle snout fragment. The outer side of the mandible shows the trough, which would be exceptional for a crocodile.[1] The mandibula and pterygoids show grooves that may have housed electro-sensitive organs.[2] The snout is very elongated and the pterygoids are fused.
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