Kansajsuchus

Kansajsuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
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Holotype premaxilla
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Family:	†Goniopholididae
Genus:	†Kansajsuchus Efimov, 1975
Type species
†Kansajsuchus extensus Efimov, 1975

Kansajsuchus is an extinct genus of goniopholidid mesoeucrocodylian. It is based on PIN 2399/301, a right premaxilla, one of the bones of the tip of the snout. This specimen was found in rocks of the lower Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Yalovach Svita of Kansai, in the Fergana Basin of Tajikistan. Additional fossils including vertebrae and bony armor have been assigned to this genus. It would have been a large animal, estimated at up to 8 metres (26 ft) long. Kansajsuchus was described in 1975 by Mikhail Efimov. The type species is Kansajsuchus extensus.

File:Kansajsuchus extensus.jpg

Referred specimens

Halliday et al. (2013) confirmed the validity of the species K. extensus, and its phylogenetic position among other basal goniopholidids from Asia. "Sunosuchus" shartegensis was found to represent its sister taxon, and both species were placed in a distinct lineage from the type species of Sunosuchus, S. miaoi, however with a weak support. Therefore, it is possible that later revisions and phylogenetic analyses will result in the abandonment of the name Kansajsuchus, and a referral of its type species to Sunosuchus.