Turfanosuchus is a
genus of
archosauriform reptile which lived during the Middle
Triassic of northwestern
China. The
type species,
T. dabanensis, was described by
C.C. Young in 1973, based on a partially complete but disarticulated fossil skeleton (IVPP V.32237). Young originally believed that the fossils came from an animal similar to
Euparkeria, and assigned it to the family
Euparkeriidae. The fossil, however, was not fully prepared. Subsequent analysis by Parrish in 1993 indicated that the fossils represented a
suchian. In 2001, Xiao-Chun Wu (of the
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing) and Anthony Russell (of the
University of Calgary) redescribed the fossil. Wu and Russell prepared the fossil, and noted the limb bones (femur and humerus) resembled those of
Ticinosuchus and
Euparkeria, though the
calcaneum did not. Further preparation revealed a partial
osteoderm. Wu and Russell concluded that
Turfanosuchus was not a suchian nor even a member of the
Crurotarsi. They also ruled out the possibility of a close relationship with
Euparkeria.
