Parotosuchus
Extinct genus of temnospondyls
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Parotosuchus is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyls within the family Mastodonsauridae. Fossils are known from the Early Triassic of Europe, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. It was about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long and likely lived in aquatic environments such as lakes and rivers. Parotosuchus was covered in a scaly skin, unlike the smooth skin of modern-day amphibians, and probably moved with an eel-like motion in the water.[2]
| Parotosuchus | |
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| Skull impression of P. nasutus in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Clade: | †Capitosauria |
| Family: | †Mastodonsauridae |
| Genus: | †Parotosuchus Otschev and Shishkin, 1968 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Etymology
Parotosuchus was originally named Parotosaurus. However, the name Parotosaurus was preoccupied by a genus of skinks,[3] and in 1968 the name Parotosuchus was proposed as a replacement.[4] The name Archotosaurus was also proposed as a replacement name in 1976,[5] although the author who proposed this was unaware that Parotosuchus was already in use. Because the name Parotosuchus was erected earlier than Archotosaurus, it has priority.[6]
Phylogeny
Parotosuchus in a cladogram after Novikov (2018) with only Early Triassic Eastern Europe taxa included:[7]
| Temnospondyli |
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Palaeobiology
The very robust skull of Parotosuchus has led to inferences that it was a generalist predator able to prey on a wide array of differently sized animals.[8]
