''Francosuchus'' is a

dubious Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of probably basal

phytosaur Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalent ...

known from the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...

(late

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

stage) of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was named by

Oskar Kuhn Oskar Kuhn (7 March 1908, Munich – 1990) was a German palaeontologist. Life and career Kuhn was educated in Dinkelsbühl and Bamberg and then studied natural science, specialising in geology and paleontology, at the University of Munich, fr ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Francosuchus broilii''. In the same article Kuhn also named a second species ''Francosuchus latus''. Both species were known solely from their

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

s, two partial

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

s that were housed at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontogy and Geology. Both specimens were collected at Ebrach Quarry, bed number 13 from the late Carnian-aged Blasensandstein Member of the Hassberge Formation.Kuhn, O. (1933). Labyrinthodonten und Parasuchier aus dem mittleren Keuper von Ebrach in Oberfranken. ''Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie, und Paläontologie, Beilage-Band, Abteilung B'', 69:94-144. As the holotypes were destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and poorly documented, ''Francosuchus'' and its species are usually considered to be

nomina dubia In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

. Kuhn (1936) described and named a third species of this genus, ''

Francosuchus angustifrons ''Paleorhinus'' (Greek: ''"Old Nose"'') is an extinct genus of widespread basal (phylogenetics), basal phytosaur known from the Late Triassic (late Carnian stage). The genus was named in 1904 based on the type species ''Paleorhinus bransoni'', wh ...

'', on a basis of another skull from the same quarry, bed number 9.Kuhn, O. (1936). Weitere Parasuchier und Labyrinthodonten aus dem Blasensandstein des mittleren Keuper von Ebrach. ''Palaeontographica, Abteilung A'', 83:61-98. This species was recently reassigned to ''

Paleorhinus ''Paleorhinus'' (Greek: ''"Old Nose"'') is an extinct genus of widespread basal (phylogenetics), basal phytosaur known from the Late Triassic (late Carnian stage). The genus was named in 1904 based on the type species ''Paleorhinus bransoni'', wh ...

'', because it shares unique

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...

with ''P. bransoni'' (the type species of ''Paleorhinus''), and a species-level phylogenetic analysis of phytosaurs found the species to be

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

Friedrich von Huene Friedrich von Huene, born Friedrich Richard von Hoinigen, (March 22, 1875 – April 4, 1969) was a German paleontologist who renamed more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe. He also made key contributions about v ...

(1939) described and named a fourth species, ''

Francosuchus trauthi ''Dolerosaurus'' is an extinct genus of diapsid known from the early Late Triassic (late Carnian stage) upper Lunz Formation of Austria. ''Dolerosaurus'' was first named by Richard J. Butler in 2013 and the type species is ''Francosuchus traut ...

''. It was synonymized with ''Paleorhinus'', but a re-description of the species by Butler (2013) found no evidence to support the synonymy, or even a phytosaurian identification. Although it is based solely on a

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

fragment, ''"F." trauthi'' was found to possess a unique combination of characters that distinguish it from all other Triassic

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...

s. Thus it was reassigned to a new genus, ''

Dolerosaurus ''Dolerosaurus'' is an extinct genus of diapsid known from the early Late Triassic (late Carnian stage) upper Lunz Formation of Austria. ''Dolerosaurus'' was first named by Richard J. Butler in 2013 and the type species is ''Francosuchus traut ...

'', referable to Tetrapoda ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''.

References

Phytosaurs Prehistoric reptile genera Late Triassic reptiles of Europe Triassic Germany Fossils of Germany Taxa named by Oskar Kuhn Fossil taxa described in 1933 {{triassic-reptile-stub