Protosuchus haughtoni ( Busbey and Gow, 1984 )

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 42-43

Protosuchus haughtoni ( Busbey and Gow, 1984) , sensu Gow, 2000 5 Baroqueosuchus haughtoni Busbey and Gow, 1984

AGE: Early Jurassic ( Olsen and Galton,

1984).

OCCURRENCE: Upper Elliot Formation, South Africa ( Gow, 2000).

HOLOTYPE: BP/1/4726, posterior portion of a skull.

REFERRED MATERIAL: BP/1/4770, complete skull and partial postcranium; SAM- K-8026, complete skull, articulated presacral column and osteoderms, partial forelimb, articulated tail.

REMARKS: Protosuchus haughtoni is known from an exceptionally well-preserved, three-dimensional skull and partial postcranium. Protosuchus haughtoni from South Africa is remarkably similar to Protosuchus richardsoni from the Early Jurassic of Arizona ( Clark, 1986; Gow, 2000). I score only BP/1/4770 and SAM-K-8026 for this taxon.

Protosuchus haughtoni differs from P. richardsoni in the following: (1) a midline ridge and paired ridges lateral to it present on the basisphenoid (these are absent in P. richardsoni ); (2) junction of maxillae in palate ends well anterior to the maxillary tooth rows; and (3) the large foramen in the maxilla within the anterior notch is not recorded for P. richardsoni ( Gow, 2000) .

KEY REFERENCES: Busbey and Gow, 1984; Gow, 2000.