Tadzhikosuchus (also speltTajikosuchus) is anextinctgenus ofneosuchiancrocodyliform from theLate Cretaceous ofTajikistan. Three species have been named: thetype speciesT. macrodentis, described by Efimov in 1982 from the lowerSantonian-ageUpper CretaceousIalovachsk Formation of Kansai, Tajikistan, in theFergana Basin of Tajikistan;T. neutralis from the same location, by Efimov in 1988; andT. kizylkumensis fromTuronian-age rocks of theUpper CretaceousBissekty Formation of Dzharakhuduk,Uzbekistan, by Nesov and colleagues in 1989. However, a 2000 review by Glenn Storrs and Mikhail Efimov could not differentiate between the species based on theirtype material, and recommended grouping the specimens of all three species underT. macrodentis. They also could not determine howTadzhikosuchus and the contemporaneousZhyrasuchus were related, or even if they were synonyms, due to the poor fossils available.[1] The name ofTadzhikosuchus is derived from the Russian spelling of Tajikistan.
To date,Tadzhikosuchus is mostly known from partialdentaries, which were initially considered to have been very similar toProdiplocynodon (acrocodyloid) by Efimov. However, since dentaries are not known forProdiplocynodon, this conclusion was considered questionable by Jeremy Martin and Massimo Delfino in 2010. They instead suggested that it may have belonged to theParalligatoridae, which was common in Asia at the time.[2]
^Storrs, Glenn W.; Efimov, Mikhail B. (2000). "Mesozoic crocodyliforms of north-central Eurasia". InBenton, Michael J.; Shishkin, Mikhail A.; Unwin, David M.; Kurochkin, Evgenii N. (eds.).The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 402–419.ISBN0-521-55476-4.
^Martin, J.E.; Delfino, M. (2010). "Recent advances in the comprehension of the biogeography of Cretaceous European eusuchians".Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.293 (3):406–418.Bibcode:2010PPP...293..406M.doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.10.021.
