Apachesuchus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = [[Late Triassic]], late [[Norian]] | image = | taxon = Apachesuchus | authority = Spielmann and Lucas, 2012 | subdivision_ranks = [[Species]] | subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''A. heckerti''''' <small>Spielmann and Lucas, 2012 ([[type species|type]])</small> }}

'''''Apachesuchus''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[aetosaur]] from the [[Late Triassic]] of [[New Mexico]]. It is only known from several paramedian [[Osteoderm|osteoderms]] discovered in [[Quay County, New Mexico|Quay County]] in eastern New Mexico. This area belongs to the late [[Norian]]-age Quay Member of the [[Redonda Formation]]. Unique among aetosaurs, its osteoderms are nearly completely smooth, without strong pits or grooves.<ref name=":0" /> The left dorsal paramedian has a relatively high width-to-length ration (about 3.25), suggesting that ''Apachesuchus'' is a wide-bodied aetosaur within the [[clade]] [[Typothoracinae]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Parker|first=William G.|date=2016-01-21|title=Revised phylogenetic analysis of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia); assessing the effects of incongruent morphological character sets|url=https://peerj.com/articles/1583|journal=PeerJ|language=en|volume=4|article-number=e1583|doi=10.7717/peerj.1583|pmid=26819845 |issn=2167-8359|doi-access=free|pmc=4727975}}</ref>

The [[holotype]] and referred material of ''Apachesuchus'' were initially described by Heckert et al. (2001), who assigned them to the South American aetosaur ''[[Neoaetosauroides]]''.<ref>Heckert et al. (2001) Heckert AB, Lucas SG, Hunt AP, Harris JD. A giant phytosaur (Reptilia: Archosauria) skull from the Redonda Formation (Upper Triassic: Apachean) of east-central New Mexico. In: Lucas SG, Ulmer-Scholle DS, editors. Geology of the Llano Estacado, 52nd Field Conference. Socorro: New Mexico Geological Society; 2001. pp. 169–176. (New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook).</ref> However, this comparison was based on ''Neoaetosauroides'' osteoderms which had been overprepared, removing their surface texture. In their 2012 monograph on vertebrates of the Redonda Formation, Justin Spielmann and Spencer Lucas decided that the material reported by Heckert et al. was sufficiently distinct to be recognized as a new genus and species. They named it '''''Apachesuchus heckerti''''', in honor of Andrew Heckert.<ref name=":0">J. A. Spielmann and S. G. Lucas. 2012. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r-woCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR1 Tetrapod fauna of the Upper Triassic Redonda formation, East-Central New Mexico: the characteristic assemblage of the Apachean land-vertebrate faunachron]. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 55:1-119.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Aetosauria]] [[Category:Late Triassic reptiles of North America]] [[Category:Late Triassic pseudosuchians]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 2012]] [[Category:Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera]]