Talk:Rauisuchidae

Lotosaurus
A book I have states that the genus Lotosaurus was a herbivore with a pelycosaur-like sail on its back; unless it was the rauisuchid equivalent of the giant panda I doubt it is a rauisuchid. In addition, the Paleobiology Database lists it as a member of the Ctenosauridae. Any comments? Jerkov 19:31, 28 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't have the paper that gives a cladistic analysis that puts Lotosaurus in the Rauisuchidae, but I also found this association hard to believe. But maybe not - see http://dml.cmnh.org/2006Jan/msg00520.html  Yes the Ctenosauridae are a group of poorly known archosaurs from the late-early or middle Triassic, with a pelycosaur-like sail on the back.  See the above . M Alan Kazlev 00:09, 29 June 2006 (UTC)


 * So it's safe to say that Lotosaurus is a ctenosaurid, or at least not a rauisuchid or poposaurid? Jerkov 08:43, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well that depends on the Linnaean ranking (family, subfamilyy, whatever). I personally would classify it as Ctenosauridae, but that is just my own pov.  btw the scientists who discovered Lotosaurus placed it in its own family (Lotosauridae Zhang, 1975).  And here is a page from Mikko's Phylogeny Archive that lists genera of Ctenosauridae (including Lotosaurus).  I guess we can include it under the Ctenosauridae M Alan Kazlev 21:55, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay. Jerkov 22:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)