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Tanystrosuchus

Kuhn, 1963 Nomen dubium

From Greek 'tanys-' ('long', 'stretched') and 'souchos' ('crocodile'), echoing Tanystrophaeus, the genus the species was originally placed in.

227.3–205.7 million years ago Norian, Late Triassic
Late Triassic stages

Tanystrosuchus is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is known only from a single caudal vertebra, which von Huene (1908) described as a species of Tanystrophaeus and Kuhn (1963) made the type of the new genus Tanystrosuchus. The vertebra preserves no features diagnostic at a lower taxonomic level, so the name is treated as a nomen dubium.

Species

Tanystrosuchus posthumus (Huene, 1908) Nomen dubium

Type species

First named as Tanystrophaeus posthumus

Holotype
SMNS 4385 , Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Material
Single distal caudal vertebra.
Notes
Sues and Schoch (2025) give the horizon as the Middle Stubensandstein of the Löwenstein Formation and find the vertebra non-diagnostic. Von Huene (1908) described it as a distal caudal with strongly elongated, pointed postzygapophyses, rudimentary prezygapophyses and neural spine, and a broad centrum grooved below.
Horizon
Löwenstein Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
Locality
Stuttgart-Heslach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Synonyms

  • Coelophysis posthumus reassigned

    A combination under Coelophysis listed by Olshevsky (1991), who gives no author or date for it and does not claim it as Olshevsky's own.

  • Tanystrophaeus posthumus reassigned

    The original combination (von Huene, 1908). Peyer (1931) showed the vertebra does not belong in Tanystropheus, and Kuhn (1963) erected Tanystrosuchus for the species.

References

  1. Huene, F. V. (1908). Die Dinosaurier der Europäischen Triasformation mit berücksichtigung der Ausseuropäischen vorkommnisse [The dinosaurs of the European Triassic formations with consideration of occurrences outside Europe]. Geologische und Palaeontologische Abhandlungen Suppl. 1(1): 1-419.

    Describes the distal caudal vertebra as Tanystrophaeus posthumus, from the Middle Keuper of Württemberg.

    huene1908a
  2. Kuhn, O. (1963). Sauria (Supplementum I). Fossilium Catalogus Animalia 109: 1-87.

    Erects Tanystrosuchus for von Huene's species.

    kuhn1963a
  3. Olshevsky, G. (1991). A revision of the parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, excluding the advanced Crocodylia. Mesozoic Meanderings 2: 1-196.

    Lists the genus as a nomen dubium, possibly Halticosaurus or Liliensternus. Says "Wild (1973)" removed it from synonymy with T. conspicuus, citing no source; Spiekman and Scheyer (2019) do not.

    olshevsky1991a
  4. Tykoski, R. S.; Rowe, T. (2004). Ceratosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 47-70. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Places the type species among the nomina dubia of Ceratosauria, material a caudal vertebra.

    tykoski2004a
  5. Sues, H. D.; Schoch, R. R. (2025). Synopsis of the Triassic reptiles from Germany. Fossil Record 28(2): 411-483. Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.3897/fr.28.164405

    Places the genus at Theropoda incertae sedis as a nomen dubium, with holotype SMNS 4385 from Stuttgart-Heslach.

    sues2025a
  6. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Hungerbühler, A. (2000). A review of European Triassic theropods. Gaia 15: 75-88.

    Redescribes holotype SMNS 4385 as a theropod posterior caudal with a broad ventral groove like that of Liliensternus, but indeterminable, and a nomen dubium from the lower or middle Stubensandstein.

    rauhut2000a
  7. Spiekman, S. N. F.; Scheyer, T. M. (2019). A taxonomic revision of the genus Tanystropheus (Archosauromorpha, Tanystropheidae). Palaeontologia Electronica 22(3): 1-46. doi:10.26879/1038

    Records that Peyer (1931) showed the species does not belong in Tanystropheus and that it is a theropod nomen dubium following Rauhut and Hungerbühler (2000).

    spiekman2019a
  8. Peyer, B. (1931). Die Triasfauna der Tessiner Kalkalpen II. Tanystropheus longobardicus Bass. sp. [The Triassic fauna of the Ticino limestone Alps II. Tanystropheus longobardicus Bass. sp.]. Abhandlungen der Schweizerischen Paläontologischen Gesellschaft 50: 9-110.

    Monograph on Tanystropheus longobardicus whose material showed what the genus is, excluding this species from it.

    peyer1931a
  9. Wild, R. (1973). Die Triasfauna der Tessiner Kalkalpen XXII. Tanystropheus longobardicus (Bassani) (Neue Ergebnisse) [The Triassic fauna of the Ticino Limestone Alps XXII. Tanystropheus longobardicus (Bassani) (new results)]. Schweizerische Paläontologische Abhandlungen 95: 1-162.

    Cited by Olshevsky (1991) as the work that removed the species from synonymy with Tanystropheus conspicuus.

    wild1973a