Named By: | Efremov in 1937 |
Time Period: | Early Triassic |
Location: | Russia |
Size: | Body length estimated to be about 2.5 meters long. Skull seventy-five centimetres long |
Diet: | Carnivore |
Fossil(s): | Multiple specimens but usually of cranial remains |
Classification: | | Chordata | Amphibia | Temnospondyli | Stereospondyli | Benthosuchidae | |
Also known as: | | Parabenthosuchus | |
Benthosuchus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Triassic of Russia. The genus was named in 1937, and the type species, Benthosuchus sushkini, was named in 1940. Benthosuchus has traditionally been considered a member of the temnospondyl superfamily Trematosauroidea, and the family Benthosuchidae was established in 1940 to include Benthosuchus and the related trematosauroid Thoosuchus. Some recent phylogenetic studies have removed Benthosuchus from Trematosauroidea entirely, placing it as a closer relative of Mastodonsauroidea, another group of Triassic temnospondyls. Other studies retain Benthosuchus within Trematosauroidea, but since Benthosuchus and Thoosuchus have successively basal positions on these trees they form a paraphyletic grouping, not a valid clade. In either case, Benthosuchidae is a monotypic family containing only Benthosuchus.