Parotosuchus

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.

Etymology

Parotosuchus was originally named Parotosaurus. However, the name Parotosaurus was preoccupied by a genus of skinks, and in 1968 the name Parotosuchus was proposed as a replacement. The name Archotosaurus was also proposed as a replacement name in 1976, 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.

Phylogeny

Parotosuchus in a cladogram after Novikov (2018) with only Early Triassic Eastern Europe taxa included:

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.

Further reading

• Parotosuchus (Temnospondyli: Mastodonsauridae) from the Triassic of Antarctica. Christian A. Sidor, J. Sebastien Steyer and Ross Damiani, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2007, 27(1):232–235