Talk:Leptosuchus

Update to Leptosuchus
Stocker (2010) has demonstrated that Leptosuchus is paraphyletic, with L. adamanensis, L. gregorii, and L. lithodendrorum closer to Pseudopalatinae than to Leptosuchus crosbiensis, the type species of Leptosuchus. She resurrects Smilosuchus for L. gregorii and refers L. lithodendrorum and L. adamanensis to Smilosuchus. Additionally, Leptosuchus studeri is recovered as the sister species of L. crosbiensis, while Phytosaurus doughtyi and "Machaeroprosopus" zunii are part of an unresolved polytomy (including Leptosuchus, Smilosuchus, Pravusuchus, and Pseudopalatinae). Also, Leptosuchus imperfecta is not referrable to adamanensis. The analysis of Stocker (2010) also refutes the possibility that Rutiodon is congeneric with Angistorhinus and finds no evidence to refer Leptosuchus or Smilosuchus to Rutiodon. Thus, Leptosuchus is known only from the Dockum Group in Texas, while Smilosuchus is known only from the Chinle Formation of Arizona and Rutiodon is known only from the eastern US.

Michelle R. Stocker (2010). "A new taxon of phytosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Late Triassic (Norian) Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation) in Arizona, and a critical reevaluation of Leptosuchus Case, 1922". Palaeontology 53 (5): 997-1022.68.4.61.237 (talk) 01:23, 29 September 2010 (UTC)Vahe Demirjian