''Pedeticosaurus'' 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 ...

crocodylomorph Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. During Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times, cro ...

from the

Clarens Formation The Clarens Formation is a geological formation found in several localities in Lesotho and in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape provinces in South Africa. It is the uppermost of the three formations found in the Stormberg Group of ...

(

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...

) of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. 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 ...

''Pedeticosaurus leviseuri'' was named by

Egbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen Egbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen (10 November 1884 – 2 May 1966) was a Dutch-born South African paleontologist. Biography Born at Vlissingen, around the age of six he moved with his parents to the South African Republic. When British for ...

in 1915 on the basis of a

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

of a mostly complete skeleton found in a quarry near

Rosendal, Free State Rosendal is a small farming town and arts colony 49 km north of Ficksburg in the Free State province of South Africa which was founded in 1908. It has become a popular tourist destination, known for spectacular scenery, including the surr ...

. The mold preserves most of the right half of the skeleton including the skull, ribs,

dorsal vertebra In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebrae and they are intermediate in size between the cervical ...

e, forelimbs and hindlimbs, but not the tail. It is currently housed in the National Museum in Bloemfontein and cataloged as NMQR606.

Taxonomy

Van Hoepen originally established a new family for ''Pedeticosaurus'' called Pedeticosauridae, which he thought was closely related to the family

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 ...

.The Paleobiology Database
/ref> In later years ''Pedeticosaurus'' was interpreted as either a member of

Sphenosuchia Sphenosuchia is a suborder of basal crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Triassic and occurred into the Middle Jurassic. Most were small, gracile animals with an erect limb posture. They are now thought to be ancestral to crocodyliforms, a ...

Protosuchia Protosuchia is a group of extinct Mesozoic crocodyliforms. They were small in size (~1 meter in length) and terrestrial. In phylogenetic terms, Protosuchia is considered an informal group because it is a grade of basal crocodyliforms, not a tru ...

, both of which are groups of small-bodied Jurassic crocodylomorphs. Paleontologist A. D. Walker erected a new group called Pedeticosauria in 1968, which he named after ''Pedeticosaurus'' and is now considered equivalent to Sphenosuchia. In 1986, James M. Clark proposed that ''Pedeticosaurus leviseuri'' was a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of the better known protosuchian species '' Protosuchus haughtoni'' based on features such as a broad scapula bone with a concave front margin and a large

squamosal bone The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones form the cheek series of the skull. The bone forms an ancestral co ...

in the skull. In 2002, Clark and

Hans-Dieter Sues Hans-Dieter Sues (born January 13, 1956) is a German-born American paleontologist who is Senior Scientist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He receiv ...

proposed that ''Pedeticosaurus leviseuri'' was a ''

nomen dubium 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 ...

'' or "doubtful name" given that the features in QS 606 are too poorly preserved to distinguish ''P. leviseuri'' as its own species. Paleontologists C. E. Gow and

James Kitching James William Kitching (6 February 1922 – 24 December 2003) was a South African vertebrate palaeontologist and regarded as one of the world’s greatest fossil finders. Career His work in the southern hemisphere, including Antarctica, led ...

of the

Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research The Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) is a paleontological, paleoanthropological and archeological research institute operated through the Faculty of Science of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Previously kn ...

referred a second skeleton to ''Pedeticosaurus'' in 1988. This skeleton was found just below the Clarens Formation in the slightly older

Elliot Formation The Elliot Formation is a geological formation and forms part of the Stormberg Group, the uppermost geological Stratigraphic unit, group that comprises the greater Karoo Supergroup. Outcrops of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern ...

. It is housed in the Bernard Price Institute and cataloged as BP/1/5237. Gow and Kitching classified it as ''Pedeticosaurus sp.'' and considered it a sphenosuchian. In 2002, Clark and Sues assigned BP/1/5237 to a new genus and species of sphenosuchian named ''

Litargosuchus leptorhynchus ''Litargosuchus'' is a sphenosuchian crocodylomorph, a basal member of the crocodylomorph clade from the Early Jurassic of South Africa. Its genus name ''Litargosuchus'' is derived from Greek meaning "fast running crocodile" and its species nam ...

''.

External links

Jurassic reptiles of Africa Terrestrial crocodylomorphs Early Jurassic crocodylomorphs Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera {{paleo-archosaur-stub