Rileyasuchus
Genus of reptiles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rileyasuchus is a genus of phytosaur from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) Magnesian Conglomerate of England. It has a confusing history, being associated with the taxonomy of Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus, and being a replacement name for a preoccupied genus (Rileya, which had already been used by Ashmead, and Howard both in 1888 for a hymenopteran).[1][2]
| Rileyasuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Phytosauria |
| Genus: | †Rileyasuchus Kuhn, 1961 |
| Species: | †R. bristolensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Rileyasuchus bristolensis (von Huene, 1902) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
History and taxonomy
In 1902, Friedrich von Huene named the new genus for two vertebrae and a humerus from deposits in Bristol.[3] He had recognized it as a phytosaur by 1908 (by which point a few Palaeosaurus species had been added to the genus).[4]
It seems to have sat unrecognized for most of the 20th century, except for 1961 when Oskar Kuhn renamed it from Rileya to Rileyasuchus.[5] Adrian Hunt in 1994 (doctoral dissertation) first suggested that it was a herrerasaurid, although this was never published.[6] Benton et al. (2000) indicated that the type specimen was actually a chimera composed of a phytosaur humerus and Thecodontosaurus vertebrae.[7] It is best regarded as a nomen dubium.
Rileya was named after palaeontologist and surgeon Henry Riley who helped to discover the first known fossils in Bristol in 1834.