Tadzhikosuchus
Tadzhikosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian from the Late Cretaceous of Tajikistan. To date it is mostly known from partial dentaries that show it to have been very similar to Diplocynodon. The two are differentiated by subtle differences in tooth position and tooth socket shape, and by differences in stratigraphy (Diplocynodon is known from the Paleogene and Neogene, making it younger). Three species have been named: the type species T. macrodentis, described by Efimov in 1982 from the lower Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Yalovach Svita of Kansai, Tajikistan, in the Fergana Basin of Tajikistan; T. neutralis from the same location, by Efimov in 1988; and T. kizylkumensis from Turonian-age rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Dzharakhuduk, Uzbekistan, by Nesov and colleagues in 1989. However, a 2000 review by Glenn Storrs and Mikhail Efimov could not differentiate between the species based on their type material, and recommended grouping the specimens of all three species under T. macrodentis. They also could not determine how Tadzhikosuchus and the contemporaneous Zhyrasuchus were related, or even if they were synonyms, due to the poor fossils available.[1] The name of the Tadzhikosuchus is derived from the Russian spelling of the name of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.
| Tadzhikosuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Superfamily: | Alligatoroidea |
| Genus: | †Tadzhikosuchus Efimov, 1982 |
| Type species | |
| †Tadzhikosuchus macrodentis Efimov, 1982 | |
References
- Storrs, Glenn W.; Efimov, Mikhail B. (2000). "Mesozoic crocodyliforms of north-central Eurasia". In Benton, Michael J.; Shishkin, Mikhail A.; Unwin, David M.; Kurochkin, Evgenii N. (eds.). The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 402–419. ISBN 0-521-55476-4.