Spinosuchus
| Spinosuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic, | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | †Allokotosauria |
| Order: | †Trilophosauria |
| Family: | †Trilophosauridae |
| Genus: | †Spinosuchus von Huene, 1932 |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Spinosuchus (meaning "spined crocodile") is an extinct genus of trilophosaurid allokotosaur from the Late Triassic of Texas, southern United States. It has been assigned to a variety of groups over its history, from coelophysid dinosaur to pseudosuchian to uncertain theropod dinosaur and to Proterosuchidae. This uncertainty is not unusual, given that it was only known from a poorly preserved, wall-mounted, partial vertebral column of an animal that lived in a time of diverse, poorly known reptile groups. However, newly collected material and recent phylogenetic studies of early archosauromorphs suggest that it represents an advanced trilophosaurid very closely related to Trilophosaurus.