Riojasuchus
Encyclopedia
Riojasuchus is an extinct genus
of quadrupedal crurotarsan archosaur
. Riojasuchus is a member of Ornithosuchidae, a family
of facultatively bipedal carnivores that were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic. Two other genera, Ornithosuchus
and Venaticosuchus
, are currently known.
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 quadrupedal crurotarsan archosaur
Archosaur
Archosaurs are a group of diapsid amniotes whose living representatives consist of modern birds and crocodilians. This group also includes all extinct non-avian dinosaurs, many extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosauria, the archosaur clade, is a crown group that includes the most...
. Riojasuchus is a member of Ornithosuchidae, a family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of facultatively bipedal carnivores that were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic. Two other genera, Ornithosuchus
Ornithosuchus
Ornithosuchus is an extinct genus of crurotarsan from the Late Triassic Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland...
and Venaticosuchus
Venaticosuchus
Venaticosuchus is a genus of Late Triassic quadrupedal crurotarsan archosaur. Originally it was thought to be the ancestor to the carnosaur dinosaurs ; however, now it is known to be more closely related to crocodilians than dinosaurs...
, are currently known.