''Apachesaurus'' is an extinct genus of metoposaurid temnospondyl amphibian from western North America.

Description and taxonomy

''Apachesaurus'' was described from the Late Triassic (late

Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian. Stratigraphic defi ...

Rhaetian The Rhaetian is the latest age of the Triassic Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage of the Triassic System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the Norian and succeeded by the Hettangian (the lowermost stage or earliest age ...

) Redonda Formation of eastern New Mexico as a small, diminutive genus of metoposaurid. The small elongate centra were used by Hunt (1993) to consider ''Apachesaurus'' a small species of metoposaurid. However, Gee ''et al.'' (2017, 2018) demonstrated that centra referred to ''Apachesaurus'' are juveniles rather than small adults, concluding that ''Apachesaurus'' specimens are juveniles, though they cautioned they could not determine whether these are ''Anaschisma'' or a distinct taxon in its own right.Gee, B.M., and Parker, W.G. 2018. Morphological and histological description of small metoposaurids from Petrified Forest National Park, AZ, USA and the taxonomy of Apachesaurus. Journal of Historical Biology 00: 00-00. DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2018.1480616

References

*Branson, E.B., and M.G. Mehl, 1929. Triassic amphibians from the Rocky Mountain region. University of Missouri Studies 4:155-239. *Gregory, J. T., 1980. The otic notch of metoposaurid labyrinthodonts, pp. 125–136 in: Jacobs L. L. (ed.) Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin H. Colbert. Museum of Northern Arizona. *Davidow-Henry, B., 1987. New Metoposaurs from the southwestern United States and their phylogenetic relationships. Unpublished MS thesis, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 75 p. *Long, R.A., and P.A. Murry, 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4. Triassic temnospondyls of North America Triassic amphibians of North America {{Triassic-animal-stub