Desmatosuchus, CASE (1920)

Small, Bryan J., 2002, Cranial anatomy of Desmatosuchus haplocerus (Reptilia: Archosauria: Stagonolepididae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136 (1), pp. 97-111 : 99

GENUS DESMATOSUCHUS CASE (1920) DESMATOSUCHUS HAPLOCERUS ( COPE, 1892)

Revised diagnosis: Large aetosaur, 4 m or more in length; premaxilla edentulous (possibly shared with Typothorax ); tooth crowns bulbous though slightly laterally compressed, with very small, rounded denticles on mesial and distal edges; infratemporal fenestra more reduced than in other aetosaurs; infratemporal fenestra oval in outline rather than ‘crescentic’ or ‘equant-shape’ as in other aetosaurs; relatively small external mandibular fenestra; humerus with ectepicondylar foramen instead of a groove; paramedian and lateral osteoderms with deeply pitted, random sculpture, well developed tongue and groove articulation on thick lateral and medial surfaces of paramedians and medial surfaces of laterals; osteoderms with anterior laminae instead of raised bars; shoulder spine of laterals very large, horn-like. The postcranial skeleton diagnosis is based on Small (1985) and Long & Murry (1995).

Horizon: Late Triassic (late Carnian/early Norian), Dockum Group, western Texas and eastern New Mexico, Chinle Formation, New Mexico and Arizona.