List_of_archosaurs_of_the_Chinle_Formation

List of archosaurs of the Chinle Formation

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The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geologic formation in the western United States which has yielded fossils of many archosaurs: a group of vertebrates that includes crocodiles, pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and other extinct relatives. This is a list of all archosaurs from the formation, including suchians (crocodilian relatives) and avemetatarsalians (dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and their relatives), as well as the abundant crocodilian-like phytosaurs, which may either be true archosaurs or very close relatives of Archosauria.

Suchians

Aetosaurs

Color key

Taxon	Reclassified taxon	Taxon falsely reported as present	Dubious taxon or junior synonym	Ichnotaxon	Ootaxon	Morphotaxon

Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; ~~crossed out~~ taxa are discredited.

More information Aetosaurs of the Chinle Formation, Genus ...

Aetosaurs of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Adamanasuchus	A. eisenhardtae	Arizona	Blue Mesa	Osteoderms and skull and postcranial fragments.	A basal desmatosuchine related to Calyptosuchus and Scutarx.^[11]	Desmatosuchus spurensis Typothorax coccinarum
Calyptosuchus^[12]	C. wellesi^[13]	Arizona^[13]	Blue Mesa^[13]	Common, although "non-armor material is comparatively rare".^[13]	A basal desmatosuchine originally considered a species of Stagonolepis.
Desmatosuchus^[14]	D. spurensis^[15]	Arizona^[15]	Blue Mesa^[15]	Numerous osteoderms and other skeletal material	A large desmatosuchin which was fairly common in the lower part of the Chinle Formation. Prior to 2008, fossils of D. spurensis were listed as the species D. haplocerus, until it was determined that D. haplocerus was a species name originally based on undiagnostic fossils.^[11]
Desmatosuchus^[14]	D. smalli^[16]	Arizona^[16]	Sonsela?^[11]	A single lateral osteoderm.	A desmatosuchin which is very rare in the Chinle Formation. One of the youngest known occurrences of the genus Desmatosuchus.^[11]
Paratypothorax^[17]	P. andressorum^[17]	Arizona^[17]	Blue Mesa Sonsela	Osteoderms	A significant number of researchers feel that the North American material referred to the German Paratypothorax species P. andressorum by Hunt and Lucas in 1992 is actually distinct.^[17]
Paratypothorax^[17]	Indeterminate^[18]	Arizona^[18] New Mexico^[11]	Sonsela^[18]	Osteoderms and minor postcranial fragments.	A paratypothoracin typothoracine known from isolated material similar to more complete specimens from Germany.^[19]
Rioarribasuchus	R. chamaensis	Arizona^[20] New Mexico^[20]	Petrified Forest^[20] Sonsela	Osteoderms and possible ankle and vertebrae remains.	A late-surviving paratypothoracin typothoracine. Originally referred to Desmatosuchus, but later reinterpreted as a relative of Paratypothorax based on a phylogenetic analysis performed on the remains by Parker in 2003.^[20] New genus names were erected independently by Parker (coining the name Heliocanthus) and Lucas et al. (coining the name Rioarribasuchus), prompting an investigation into reports of unethical taxonomic claim-jumping.
Scutarx^[11]	S. deltatylus^[11]	Arizona^[11]	Sonsela^[11]	Four partial skeletons including skull fragments.	A large basal desmatosuchine based on fossils originally referred to "Stagonolepis" (=Calyptosuchus) wellesi, a close relative. Fossils of Scutarx represent the highest stratigraphic occurrence of Stagonolepis-like aetosaurs in Petrified Forest National Park.
Stenomyti	S. huangae	Colorado	"Red siltstone"	Partial skeleton including a well-preserved skull.	A small aetosaurine similar to Aetosaurus.
Typothorax^[21]	T. coccinarum^[21]	Arizona^[21]	Owl Rock^[21] Petrified Forest^[21] Sonsela^[21]	Common in the Owl Rock and Petrified Forest Members.^[21]	A large, wide-bodied typothoracine abundant throughout the Chinle Formation. Almost all of the known Chinlean Typothorax fossils are isolated whole or fragmentary osteoderms.^[21]
Tecovasuchus^[22]	T. chatterjeei	Arizona	Blue Mesa	Osteoderms.	Previously thought to be more widespread in the formation.^[22]
Kryphioparma^[22]	K. caerula	Arizona	Blue Mesa	Osteoderms.	Described in 2023, probably related to other typothoracines.^[22]

Avemetatarsalians

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Phytosaurs of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Leptosuchus^[1]	L. crosbiensis^[1]	Arizona^[1]	Sonsela^[1] Blue Mesa^[1] Mesa Redondo^[1]			Smilosuchus adamanensis Smilosuchus gregorii Paleorhinus Protome batalaria
Smilosuchus^[2]	S. adamanensis^[1]	Arizona^[1]	Sonsela^[1] Blue Mesa^[1] Mesa Redondo^[1]	Known from a single skull	Previously referred to Leptosuchus, actually referable to Smilosuchus.^[3]
	S. gregorii	Arizona	Sonsela Blue Mesa Mesa Redondo	Known from a handful of skulls.	A basal leptosuchomorph.
	S. lithodendrorum^[3]	Arizona	Blue Mesa	Known from only one skull.	Previously considered synonymous with S. adamanensis.
cf. Paleorhinus^[4]	Indeterminate^[4]	Arizona^[4]	Mesa Redondo^[4]
Machaeroprosopus^[5]	M. buceros^[5]	Arizona^[5]	Owl Rock^[5] Petrified Forest^[5] Sonsela^[5]
	M. mccauleyi^[5]	Arizona^[5]	Owl Rock^[5] Petrified Forest^[5] Sonsela^[5]
	M. pristinus^[5]	Arizona^[5]	Owl Rock^[5] Petrified Forest^[5] Sonsela^[5]
Pravusuchus^[3]	P. hortus	Arizona	Sonsela	Three skulls.	A leptosuchomorph phytosaur closely related to Mystriosuchini^[3]^[6] or Nicrosaurus.^[7]
Protome^[8]	P. batalaria	Arizona	Sonsela	Partial skull and jaw.	A phytosaur originally described as a juvenile Leptosuchus, but probably an unrelated non-leptosuchomorph^[8] or mystriosuchin.^[7]
Redondasaurus^[9]	R. gregorii^[9]	Arizona^[2] Utah^[2]	"Siltstone" / Rock Point^[2] Petrified Forest^[2] Church Rock^[2]		A large late-surviving mystriosuchin phytosaur closely related to Machaeroprosopus (formerly known as Pseudopalatus),^[10] and often considered a subgenus of that taxon.^[2]^[6]^[7]

Crocodylomorphs of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Hesperosuchus^[23]	H. agilis^[23]	Arizona^[23]	Petrified Forest^[23] Blue Mesa^[23] Mesa Redondo^[23]			Hesperosuchus agilis
Parrishia^[24]	P. mccreai^[24]	Arizona^[24]	Blue Mesa^[24] Mesa Redondo^[24]

Paracrocodylomorphs of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Effigia	E. okeeffeae	New Mexico	"Siltstone"		A six-foot-long shuvosaurid from the Coelophysis quarry of Ghost Ranch.	Effigia okeeffeae Poposaurus gracilis Postosuchus kirkpatricki Shuvosaurus inexpectatus
Poposaurus^[25]	P. gracilis^[25]	Arizona^[25]	Blue Mesa^[25] Mesa Redondo^[25]
Postosuchus^[26]	P. kirkpatricki^[26]	Arizona^[26]	Owl Rock^[26] Petrified Forest^[26] Sonsela^[26] Blue Mesa^[26] Mesa Redondo^[26]
Saurosuchus^[27]	Indeterminate^[27]	Arizona^[27]	Blue Mesa^[27]	Jaw fragment.	Identified from a fossil which has been reinterpreted as an indeterminate "rauisuchian".
Shuvosaurus^[28]	S. inexpectatus^[28]	Arizona^[28]	Owl Rock^[28] Petrified Forest^[28] Mesa Redondo^[28]		Following a rediagnosis of the genus and species, only shuvosaurid fossils from the Cooper Canyon Formation are reliably identifiable as Shuvosaurus itself.^[29]
Vivaron^[30]	V. haydeni^[30]	New Mexico^[30]	Petrified Forest^[30]		A large rauisuchid similar to Postosuchus.

Miscellaneous suchians of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Acaenasuchus^[31]	A. geoffreyi^[31]	Arizona^[31]	Sonsela^[31] Blue Mesa^[31] Mesa Redondo^[31]	Known from a handful of isolated osteoderms.^[31]	A controversial suchian based primarily on osteoderms. Some paleontologists have considered Acaenasuchus to be juvenile Desmatosuchus haplocerus scutes, while others considered it a separate genus of small aetosaurs.^[31] Most recently it has been reconsidered an aetosauriform related to, but not within, Aetosauria. It is also related to Revueltosaurus (also from the Chinle) and the armored reptile Euscolosuchus from Virginia.^[32]	Revueltosaurus
Revueltosaurus^[33]	R. callenderi^[34]	Arizona^[34]	Petrified Forest^[34]
Revueltosaurus^[33]	R. hunti^[35]	Arizona^[35]	Blue Mesa^[35]

Basal Dinosauriforms of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Dromomeron	D. romeri	Arizona Colorado New Mexico	Petrified Forest (Hayden Quarry #3) Owl Rock ‘Red siltstone’		A lagerpetid pterosauromorph found at various Ghost Ranch quarries and elsewhere in the Chinle Formation.	Dromomeron romeri Kwanasaurus williamparkeri
Eucoelophysis	E. baldwini	New Mexico^[36]	Petrified Forest^[36]		A silesaurid dinosauriform closely related to the Polish genus Silesaurus.^[37]
Kwanasaurus^[38]	K. williamparkeri	Colorado	"Red siltstone"		A silesaurid dinosauriform with adaptations for herbivory.

List_of_archosaurs_of_the_Chinle_Formation

List of archosaurs of the Chinle Formation

Phytosaurs

Suchians

Aetosaurs

Crocodylomorphs

Other paracrocodylomorphs

Other suchians

Avemetatarsalians

Basal avemetatarsalians

Dinosaurs

Sauropodomorphs

Theropods and near-relatives

See also

Footnotes

References

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Theropods and near-relatives of the Chinle Formation
Genus	Species	State	Member	Abundance	Notes	Images
Camposaurus^[36]	C. arizonensis^[36]	Arizona^[36]	Bluewater Creek Formation^[36]		A coelophysine coelophysid	Camposaurus arizonensis Chindesaurus bryansmalli (interpreted as a herrerasaurid) Coelophysis bauri Daemonosaurus chauliodus Tawa hallae
Chindesaurus^[36]	C. bryansmalli^[36]	Arizona^[36]	Petrified Forest^[36]		A large saurischian alternatively considered a herrerasaurid or a theropod related to Tawa hallae.
Coelophysis^[36]	C. bauri	New Mexico^[39]	"Siltstone"^[39]
	C. sp.^[40]	Arizona^[40]	Petrified Forest^[40]		Originally assigned to C. bauri, but likely a different taxon.^[40]
	C. longicollis^[36]	New Mexico^[36]	Petrified Forest^[36]		Now considered a junior synonym of C. bauri.
	C. willistoni	New Mexico^[36]	Petrified Forest^[36]		Now considered a junior synonym of C. bauri.
Daemonosaurus	D. chauliodus	New Mexico	"Siltstone"	Skull and neck vertebrae fragments	A possible basal theropod with a short skull and enlarged teeth.
Tawa	T. hallae	New Mexico	Petrified Forest (Hayden Quarry)		A probable basal theropod showing a mosaic of features similar to neotheropods and herrerasaurids.