Apatosuchus is an extinct genus of non-crocodylomorph loricatan pseudosuchian known from the Late Triassic of Germany. It is known from a partial holotype skull from the middle Stubensandstein (a deposit that dates back to the Norian stage and is part of the Löwenstein Formation) in Baden-Württemberg. The type species is Halticosaurus orbitoangulatus. A. orbitoangulatus was first described by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1932,[1] who considered it a species of the theropod dinosaur Halticosaurus. Some later studies proposed that it was an early crocodylomorph or "sphenosuchian" like Saltoposuchus, another pseudosuchian from the middle Stubensandstein of Baden-Württemberg. The name Apatosuchus, "deceptive crocodile", was erected for H. orbitoangulatus by Hans-Dieter Sues and Rainer R. Schoch in 2013 when it was realized that the known material represented a pseudosuchian archosaur rather than a dinosaur, as a result of further preparation of the specimen, coining the combinatio nova Apatosuchus orbitoangulatus. Apatosuchus is now thought to be a basal member of the clade Loricata. Apatosuchus is much smaller than other basal loricatans such as Teratosaurus  and Batrachotomus.[2]

Apatosuchus
Temporal range: Norian
~222–208 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Loricata
Genus: Apatosuchus
Sues & Schoch, 2013
Species:
A. orbitoangulatus
Binomial name
Apatosuchus orbitoangulatus
von Huene, 1932
Synonyms

Phylogeny

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A phylogenetic analysis performed by Sues & Schoch (2013) found Apatosuchus to be the sister taxon of the clade formed by Batrachotomus and more derived loricatans. This position was supported by two unambiguous synapomorphies: the presence of a ridge on the dorsal surface of squamosal along the edge of supratemporal fossa, and concaved rear portion of the nasals at the midline. The data matrix of Sues & Schoch (2013), a list of characteristics that was used in the analysis, was based on that of Nesbitt (2011), one of the most extensive on archosaurs. Below is a cladogram from the analysis.[2]

Loricata

References

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  1. ^ Huene, F. von. (1932). Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. Monogr. Geol. Pal. 4 (1) pts. 1 and 2, viii + 361 pp.
  2. ^ a b Sues, H. D.; Schoch, R. R. (2013). "Reassessment of cf. Halticosaurus orbitoangulatus from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of Germany - a pseudosuchian, not a dinosaur". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 168 (4): 859. doi:10.1111/zoj.12038.