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Carinthiasuchus enters the LRT with Longisquama and the tiny tanystropheids

Thursday, June 11, 2026 15:22

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Dalla Vecchia and Cau 2026
described a new small reptile, Carinthiasuchus, based on a nearly complete skull and long series of articulated caudal vertebrae (Figs 1–5) from the Middle to Late Triassic. Based on its large antorbital fenestra and other traits the authors nested their discovery within the Poposauridae closest to 3m long Qianosuchus.

That was something of a force-fit imposed by taxon exclusion.
In the large reptile tree (LRT, 2340 taxa) Qianosuchus is not a member of the Poposauridae, but an ancestor to Poposauridae + Archosauria (crocs + dinos only) derived from Rauisuchia. The magnitude size difference between robin-sized Carinthiasuchus and 3m Qianosuchus was attributed to ontogeny.

Add relevant taxa to find this out for yourself.

The authors reported observing
an antorbital fossa restricted to the dorsal rim of the tooth-bearing portion of the maxilla. Here that fossa is an anterior process of the jugal

Figure 2. Skull of Carinthiasuchus under DGS. Flipped left to right as a standard. See DGS reconstruction below. The Dalla Vecchia and Cau line drawing is shown in frame 3.

In the LRT
Carinthiasuchus nests with a slightly smaller and coeval Longisquama (Figs 3–4).

Figure 3. Left: Carinthiasuchus skull reconstructed. Right: Longisquama skull reconstructed to scale Shown at 1.4x actual size on a 72-dpi monitor.

The holotype skull material needs reconstruction
(Fig 3) to see what elements are present and how they relate to one another before scoring.

. No reconstruction was published by Dalla Vecchia and Cau.

Figure 4. Longisquama and Cosesaurus compared to Carinthiasuchus (below).

The tail of Carinthiasuchus
(Fig 5) is similar to that of Longisquama, but provided with deep chevrons that are retained from Middle-to Late Triassic Cosesaurus. Tiny tanystropheids like these taxa sometimes preserve chevrons. Sometimes they do not. The greater size of Carinthiasuchus might be responsible for the retention of chevrons.

Figure 5. Reconstructed caudal series of Carinthiasuchus. What the authors considered osteoderms are here considered tail stiffening ossifications and possible bases for soft tissue. Caudal #3 is duplicated. Perhaps it belongs to another individual not otherwise present on the slab.

This appears to be a novel hypothesis of interrelationships.
When you have a Triassic enigma you want to nest, don’t omit/avoid taxa that might be relevant to your study.

Open the possibilities if your bird-sized taxon nests with a 3m giant.
Remember: the diapsid skull architecture appeared 2x by convergence. Antorbital fenestrae appeared at least 3x by convergence. Turtles and whales appeared 2x by convergence.

References
Dalla Vecchia FM and Cau A 2026. Carinthiasuchus kandutschi, a new archosaur (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Triassic of Austria. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 132 (2): 409–430. doi:10.54103/2039-4942/29890

wiki/Carinthiasuchus

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/06/12/carinthiasuchus-enters-the-lrt-with-longisquama-and-the-tiny-tanystropheids/

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