Yarasuchus 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 rauisuchia

Rauisuchia

Rauisuchia is a group of predatory and mostly large Triassic archosaurs. As a clade, Rauisuchia includes these Triassic forms and all crocodylomorphs, which are descendants of Triassic rauisuchians. The group in its traditional sense is paraphyletic, because it does not include crocodylomorph...

n, a group of predatory and large Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 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...

s. It lived during the Anisian

Anisian

In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from 245 million years ago until 237 million years ago, approximately...

 stage of the Middle Triassic

Middle Triassic

In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided. It spans the time between 245 ± 1.5 Ma and 228 ± 2 Ma...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Being only 2 metres long, is was one of the smallest rauisuchians known. The genus was named and described in 2005 from incomplete fossil material found from the Middle Triassic

Middle Triassic

In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided. It spans the time between 245 ± 1.5 Ma and 228 ± 2 Ma...

 Yerrapalli Formation, thought to be from two individuals, with one being much more complete and articulated than the other. The type

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 and only species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 is Y. deccanensis.

Description

The cervical vertebrae

Cervical vertebrae

In vertebrates, cervical vertebrae are those vertebrae immediately inferior to the skull.Thoracic vertebrae in all mammalian species are defined as those vertebrae that also carry a pair of ribs, and lie caudal to the cervical vertebrae. Further caudally follow the lumbar vertebrae, which also...

 that make up the neck of Yarasuchus are characteristically elongated, while the skull is proportionally small. The genus is also distinguished from other prestosuchids by a delicately built pectoral girdle and a continuous acromion process

Acromion process

The acromion process, or simply the acromion , is an anatomical feature on the shoulder blade , together with the coracoid process extending laterally over the shoulder joint.-In humans:...

 of the scapula

Scapula

In anatomy, the scapula , omo, or shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus with the clavicle ....

. The neural spines of the vertebrae are high and the paramedian osteoderm

Osteoderm

Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates or other structures in the dermal layers of the skin. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles, including lizards, various groups of dinosaurs , crocodilians, phytosaurs, aetosaurs, placodonts, and hupehsuchians...

s are greatly sculptured with a ridge running anteroposteriorly along each one.

Paleobiology

Yarasuchus may have had a facultatively bipedal gait.

Many other vertebrate remains have been found from the Yerrapalli Formation alongside those of Yarasuchus, and would have coexisted with the genus during the Middle Triassic. Remains of the prolacertiform

Prolacertiformes

Prolacertiformes were an order of archosauromorph reptiles that lived during the Permian and Triassic Periods...

 Pamelaria dolichotrachela have been found in close proximity to those of Yarasuchus. Other vertebrate remains include those of the dipnoan Ceratodus

Ceratodus

Ceratodus was a wide-ranging genus of extinct sarcopterygiian lungfish. Fossil evidence dates back to the Middle Triassic 228 million years ago. A wide range of fossil species from different time periods have been found around the world in places such as the United States, Argentina, England,...

, the actinopterygian

Actinopterygii

The Actinopterygii or ray-finned fishes constitute a class or sub-class of the bony fishes.The ray-finned fishes are so called because they possess lepidotrichia or "fin rays", their fins being webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines , as opposed to the fleshy, lobed fins that characterize...

 Saurichthys

Saurichthys

Saurichthys is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Triassic period. Fossils have been found worldwide.Saurichthys was an elongated, streamlined, fish about long, and looked similar to the modern pike. Its dorsal and anal fins were placed opposite each other wll back on the body, and the...

, the temnospondyl Parotosuchus

Parotosuchus

Parotosuchus is an extinct genus of capitosauroid temnospondyl within the family Capitosauridae. It was a two-metre-long giant salamander-like predator that lived during the Early Triassic inhabiting lakes and rivers...

, and the dicynodont

Dicynodont

Dicynodontia is a taxon of anomodont therapsids or mammal-like reptiles. Dicynodonts were small to large herbivorous animals with two tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'...

s Rechnisaurus

Rechnisaurus

Rechnisaurus is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsid.-References:*...

and Wadiasaurus

Wadiasaurus

Wadiasaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont, the remains of which were found in Yerrapalli Formation, India....

.

Classification

It was originally described as a prestosuchid, but Brusatte

Stephen L. Brusatte

Stephen Louis Brusatte , is an American paleontologist.-Biography:He is the author of the 2002 book Stately Fossils: A Comprehensive Look at the State Fossils and Other Official Fossils and the 2008 book Dinosaurs...

 et al. (2010

2010 in paleontology

-Anomalocaridids:-Newly named crustaceans:-Newly named insects:* A new family, Cascopleciidae, is published by Poinar Jr.* A new family of ceraphronoid Hymenopters, Radiophronidae, is published by Ortega-Blanco, Rasnitsyn, and Delclòs....

) found it to be a poposauroid in a detailed cladistic analysis.

External links

• Yarasuchus in the Paleobiology Database
  Paleobiology Database
  ' is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms.-History:The Paleobiology Database was founded in 2000. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council...