A new protosuchid crocodyliform (Pseudosuchia, Crocodylomorpha) from the Norian Los Colorados Formation, northwestern Argentina

Protosuchids are known from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous and form a basal clade of Crocodyliformes. We report here a new protosuchid crocodyliform, <i>Coloradisuchus abelini</i>, gen. et sp. nov., from the middle Norian Los Colorados Formation, La Rioja, northwestern Argentina. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers <i>Coloradisuchus abelini</i> within Protosuchidae, as the sister group of the clade formed by <i>Hemiprotosuchus</i> and two species of <i>Protosuchus</i> (<i>P. richardsoni</i> and <i>P. haughtoni</i>). The new protosuchid <i>C. abelini</i> increases the diversity of crocodyliforms in the Late Triassic and, together with <i>H. leali</i> from the same stratigraphic levels of the Los Colorados Formation, shows that the diversification of basal crocodyliforms was probably faster and/or older than thought previously. http://.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:66629B34-42E4-4F6D-A56C-B082D749AB4B SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP Citation for this article: Martínez, R. N., O. A. Alcober, and D. Pol. 2019. A new protosuchid crocodyliform (Pseudosuchia, Crocodylomorpha) from the Norian Los Colorados Formation, northwestern Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1491047.