''Ornithosuchus'' (meaning "bird crocodile") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

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 ...

pseudosuchia Pseudosuchia is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Pseudosuchians are also informally known as "crocodilian-line archosaurs". Prior to ...

ns 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 ...

(

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 ...

)

Lossiemouth Sandstone The Lossiemouth Sandstone is a Middle to Late Triassic (Ladinian to Norian) age geological formation. It is exposed on the south side of the Moray Firth near Lossiemouth and near Golspie in Sutherland. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils th ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was originally thought to be the ancestor to the

carnosauria Carnosauria is an extinct large group of predatory dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Starting from the 1990s, scientists have discovered some very large carnosaurs in the carcharodontosaurid family, such as ''Gig ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s (such as ''

Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alluding to ...

''). However, it is now known to be more closely related to

crocodilia Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

ns than to dinosaurs.

Description

Despite this relationship to crocodiles, ''Ornithosuchus'' was able to walk on its hind legs, like many dinosaurs. However, it probably spent most of its time on all fours, only moving

biped Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' a ...

ally when it needed to run rapidly. Its skull also resembled those of

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

dinosaurs, but more primitive features included the presence of five toes on each foot and a double row of armoured plates along the animal's back. ''Ornithosuchus'' has traditionally been estimated at a length of about around .

Classification

A single species of ''Ornithosuchus'' is recognized, ''O. woodwardi''. ''Ornithosuchus taylori'' is a synonym.M. Belén von Baczko and Martín D. Ezcurra (2016) Taxonomy of the archosaur Ornithosuchus: reassessing Ornithosuchus woodwardi Newton, 1894 and Dasygnathoides longidens (Huxley 1877). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 106(3): 199-205 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691016000104 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/taxonomy-of-the-archosaur-ornithosuchus-reassessing-ornithosuchus-woodwardi-newton-1894-and-dasygnathoides-longidens-huxley-1877/FD5D5984B93F9136021A299D388CCBA8 "''Dasygnathus''" ''longidens'' was in 1877 created by Thomas Huxley for a right maxilla from the Lossiemouth Sandstone found in 1857. The genus name '' Dasygnathus'' had already been used for a

coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

n insect, so Huxley's generic name was in 1961 changed to ''

Dasygnathoides ''Dasygnathoides'' is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. Classification "''Dasygnathus''" ''longidens'' was erected by Thomas Huxley for a maxilla from the Lossiemouth Sandstone ...

''. Although synonymized with ''Ornithosuchus'' by Walker (1964), a 2016 study found ''Dasygnathoides'' indeterminate beyond Pseudosuchia. The maximal length of ''Ornithosuchus'' was revised to 2.2 metres. ''Ornithosuchus'' is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

of the

Ornithosuchidae Ornithosuchidae is an extinct family of pseudosuchian archosaurs (distant relatives of modern crocodilians) from the Triassic period. Ornithosuchids were quadrupedal and facultatively bipedal (e.g. like chimpanzees), meaning that they had the a ...

, a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of facultatively biped carnivores that were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic. Two other genera are currently known, ''

Venaticosuchus ''Venaticosuchus'' is a genus of pseudosuchian archosaurs from the family Ornithosuchidae. Known from a single species, ''Venaticosuchus rusconii,'' this genus is described based on an incomplete skull and jaw (as well as a lost partial forelimb ...

'' and ''

Riojasuchus ''Riojasuchus'' is an extinct genus of Late Triassic ( Norian) quadrupedal archosaur. ''Riojasuchus'' is a member of Ornithosuchidae, a family of facultatively bipedal carnivores that were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic. Tw ...

''.

References

Sources

* Walker, A.D. (1964)
"Triassic reptiles from the Elgin area: ''Ornithosuchus'' and the origin of carnosaurs"
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences'', 248(744): 53-134. {{Taxonbar, from=Q133134 Ornithosuchids Triassic archosaurs Late Triassic reptiles of Europe Fossils of Scotland Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera