Angistorhinopsis is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of altirostral (long-snouted) pseudopalatine

Pseudopalatinae

Pseudopalatinae was a subfamily of crocodile-like archosaurs called phytosaurs. As with all other phytosaurs, pseudopalatines lived during Late Triassic. The name is derived from the genus Pseudopalatus....

 phytosaur

Phytosaur

Phytosaurs are an extinct group of large semi-aquatic Late Triassic archosaurs. Phytosaurs belong to the family Phytosauridae and the order Phytosauria. They were long-snouted and heavily armoured, bearing a remarkable resemblance to modern crocodiles in size, appearance, and lifestyle, an example...

. It was named for its supposed resemblance to Angistorhinus

Angistorhinus

Angistorhinus is an extinct genus of phytosaur known from the Late Triassic period of Texas and Wyoming, USA. It was first named by Mehl in 1913 and the type species is Angistorhinus grandis. Other species from Texas and Wyoming, A. alticephalus , A. gracilis and A...

by Friedrich von Huene

Friedrich von Huene

Friedrich von Huene was a German paleontologist who named more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe.-Biography:...

 in 1922. Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s have been found in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and date back to the latest Norian

Norian

The Norian is a division of the Triassic geological period. It has the rank of an age or stage . The Norian lasted from 216.5 ± 2.0 to 203.6 ± 1.5 million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian.-Stratigraphic definitions:The Norian was named after the Noric Alps in...

 and Rhaetian

Rhaetian

The Rhaetian is in geochronology the latest age of the Triassic period or in chronostratigraphy the uppermost stage of the Triassic system. It lasted from 203.6 ± 1.5 to 199.6 ± 0.6 million years ago...

 stages of the Late Triassic

Late Triassic

The Late Triassic is in the geologic timescale the third and final of three epochs of the Triassic period. The corresponding series is known as the Upper Triassic. In the past it was sometimes called the Keuper, after a German lithostratigraphic group that has a roughly corresponding age...

, making it the youngest known phytosaur to have existed in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and, along with Redondasaurus

Redondasaurus

Redondasaurus is a genus of phytosaur from the Late Triassic of North America. Translated, the name Redondasaurus means "Redonda lizard," referring to the Redonda Formation of east-central New Mexico, USA. It was first named by Hunt & Lucas in 1993, and contains one species, R. gregorii...

from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, one of the last surviving members of Phytosauria before the group went extinct during the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 199.6 million years ago.

External links

• Angistorhinopsis at Palaeos
  Palaeos
  Palaeos.com is a web site on biology, paleontology, cladistics and geology and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton, the professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of...