Fenhosuchus 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 archosauriform

Archosauriformes

Archosauriformes is a clade of diapsid reptiles that developed from archosauromorph ancestors some time in the Late Permian...

. Fossil

Fossil

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

s have been found from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and date back to the Early Triassic

Early Triassic

The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251 ± 0.4 Ma and 245 ± 1.5 Ma . Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic, which is a unit in chronostratigraphy...

. The genus was named after the Fen River

Fen River

The Fen River drains the center of Shanxi Province, China. It rises in the Guancen Mountains of Ningwu County in northeast Shanxi, flows southeast into the basin of Taiyuan, and then south through the central valley of Shanxi before turning west to join the Yellow River west of Hejin. The Fen and...

 in Shanxi

Shanxi

' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....

 Province from which specimens were found. It may prove to be a chimera

Chimera (paleontology)

In paleontology, a chimera is a fossil which was reconstructed with elements coming from more than a single species of animal. A now classic example of chimera is Protoavis.-List of paleontological chimeras:*Brontosaurus*Lametasaurus...

 being composed of material from several different animals. Some material can be identified as belonging to a rauisuchid

Rauisuchidae

Rauisuchidae is a group of large predatory Triassic archosaurs, and constitute advanced representatives of the larger group Rauisuchia. There is some disagreement over which genera should be included in the Prestosuchidae, which in Rauisuchidae, and which in the Poposauridae, and indeed whether...

. The calcaneum of Fenhosuchus seems to belong to an erythrosuchid

Erythrosuchidae

Erythrosuchidae are a family of large basal archosauromorph carnivores that lived from the later Early Triassic to the early Middle Triassic . Their fossil remains are known so far from South Africa , the Perm region of Russia, and China...

 or other basal 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...

. Much of the material of the tarsal bones

Tarsus (skeleton)

In tetrapods, the tarsus is a cluster of articulating bones in each foot situated between the lower end of tibia and fibula of the lower leg and the metatarsus. In the foot the tarsus articulates with the bones of the metatarsus, which in turn articulate with the bones of the individual toes...

 seem to be similar to those of the genus Shansisuchus

Shansisuchus

Shansisuchus was an erythrosuchid, a type of carnivorous prehistoric reptile that lived some 220 million years ago during the middle Triassic Period in what is now Shansi Province in China....

.

External links

• Fenhosuchus 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...