LÃcio Roberto-Da-Silva, Rodrigo Temp MÃller ORCID Icon, Marco AurÃlio Gallo de FranÃa, SÃrgio Furtado Cabreira & SÃrgio Dias-Da-Silva (2018)
An impressive skeleton of the giant top predator Prestosuchus chiniquensis (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) from the Triassic of Southern Brazil, with phylogenetic remarks.
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
In the present contribution, we aim to present the osteology of âULBRA-PVT-281â, which comprises the best-preserved skeleton of Prestosuchus chiniquensis ever found. ULBRA-PVT-281 combines the morphology of two classic specimens referred to P. chiniquensis, UFRGS-PV-0156-T and UFRGSPV- 0152-T, reunited in a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU) in previous phylogenetic studies. Therefore, the new specimen reinforces the combination of both specimens. We performed a phylogenetic analysis, combining the information of these three specimens plus braincase data from a fourth specimen, UFRGS-PV-0629-T, into a new P. chiniquensis terminal taxon. Moreover, our analysis also included some new taxa potentially related to P. chiniquensis. As a result, we found a topology slightly distinct from previous studies, where Ticinosuchus ferox is the basalmost member of Loricata, which also includes the new combined P. chiniquensis. Our results place P. chiniquensis, Luperasuchus fractus, and Saurosuchus galilei distributed in a pectinate paraphyletic pattern towards Crocodylomorpha. On the other hand, a constrained analysis forcing the monophyly of these taxa demands just a single extra step. Therefore, both scenarios are plausible and agree with the placement of P. chiniquensis within Loricata, whereas T. ferox nests in Loricata only in the unconstrained analysis.
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