''Francosuchus'' is a dubious genus of probably

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

phytosaur known from the Late Triassic (late Carnian stage) of Bavaria, southern Germany. It was named by Oskar Kuhn in

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 is ''Francosuchus broilii''. In the same article Kuhn also named a second species ''Francosuchus latus''. Both species were known solely from their holotypes, two partial skulls that were housed at the

Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontogy and Geology Bavarian is the adjective form of the German state of Bavaria, and refers to people of ancestry from Bavaria. Bavarian may also refer to: * Bavarii, a Germanic tribe * Bavarians, a nation and ethnographic group of Germans * Bavarian, Iran, a villag ...

. Both specimens were collected at Ebrach Quarry, bed number 13 from the late Carnian-aged Blasensandstein Member of the

Hassberge Formation The Hassberge Formation is a geologic formation in Bavaria, Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Carnian stage of the Triassic period. Hassberge Formationat Fossilworks.org Fossil content Insects ;Coleoptera * '' Carabilarva tr ...

.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 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'', 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.

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

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