Purranisaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform from the Late Jurassic aged Vaca Muerta of Argentina. Rusconi originally regarded Purranisaurus potens (the type species) to be a plesiosaur; however, Gasparini demonstrated that it was in fact a metriorhynchid crocodyliform, and that may be a junior synonym of Metriorhynchus.Gasparini Z. 1975. Revisión de ?Purranisaurus potens Rusconi, 1948 (Crocodilia, Thalattosuchia) Los Thalattosuchia como un nuevo Infraorden de los Crocodilia. Actas del Congreso Geologico Argentino 5: 423–431. It was about long.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
In the 2000s phylogenetic analysis has shown that Purranisaurus is a distinct metriorhynchid genus.Young MT. 2007. The evolution and interrelationships of Metriorhynchidae (Crocodyliformes, Thalattosuchia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (3): 170A.Young, Mark T., and Marco Brandalise de Andrade, 2009. "What is Geosaurus? Redescription of Geosaurus giganteus (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Bayern, Germany." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 157: 551-585. A subsequent study expanded the genus Purranisaurus to include Metriorhynchus casamiquelai and M. westermanni.Young, Mark T., Brusatte, Stephen L., Ruta, M., Andrade, Marco B. 2009. "The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (Mesoeucrocodylia, Thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometrics morphometrics, analysis of disparity and biomechanics". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158: 801-859. Following the re-description of the holotype of the type species, only that species is now referred to Purranisaurus.
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