In Depth
Chanaresuchus is a genus of proterochampsian archosauromorph that lived in South America during the Triassic. With known skull sizes ranging up to twenty-six centimetres in length, Chanaresuchus would had the potential to have been a moderately sized predator, but nothing near the scale of large rauisuchians such as Saurosuchus. Chanaresuchus however would have still been a threat to smaller animals, and perhaps even primitive dinosaurs and there immediate ancestors.
Chanaresuchus was named after the Cha�ares Formation where the first ever fossils of the genus were found, but since this time further fossils are now also known from Brazil. A former species of Chanaresuchus, C. ischigualastensis, has now been re-described as a new genus called Pseudochampsa.
Further Reading
- A new proterochampsid Chanaresuchus ischigualastensis (Diapsida, Archosauriformes) in the early Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (2): 485–489. - M. J. Trotteyn, R. N. Mart�nez & O. A. Alcober - 2012. - The first occurrence of Chanaresuchus bonapartei Romer 1971 (archosauriformes, proterochampsia) of the Middle Triassic of Brazil from the Santacruzodon Assemblage Zone, Santa Maria Formation (Parana Basin). - Geological Society, London, Special Publications 379: 303. - T. Raugust, M. Lacerda & C. L. Schultz - 2013. - Osteology of Pseudochampsa ischigualastensis gen. et comb. nov. (Archosauriformes: Proterochampsidae) from the Early Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of Northwestern Argentina. - PLoS ONE 9 (11). - Mar�a Jimena Trotteyn & Mart�n D. Ezcurra - 2014.
