Agaresuchus


Agaresuchus is an extinct genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous of Spain. It includes two species, the type species A. fontisensis, and A. subjuniperus, which was originally named as a species of the related genus Allodaposuchus. However, it has been proposed that both species may instead belong to the genus Allodaposuchus.

Discovery and naming

The genus Agaresuchus was named in 2016 upon the discovery of Agaresuchus fontisensis. Allodaposuchus subjuniperus, discovered in 2013 and originally classified as a new and second species of Allodaposuchus, was then reassigned to Agaresuchus. It is based on the holotype skull, specimen MPZ 2012/288.
A. subjuniperus was named in 2013 on the basis of a skull from the late Maastrichtian-aged Conquès Formation, part of the Tremp Group, in the province of Huesca, Spain. The skull was found underneath a juniper tree whose roots had grown between the bones, hence the specific name subjuniperus or "under juniper" in Latin.
In 2016, the new genus and species Agaresuchus fontisensis was discovered and described. The genus name refers to the demon Agares, depicted by Johann Weyer as an old man riding a crocodile. The specific name was named from the Lo Hueco fossil site in Fuentes, Cuenca, Spain; fontes is the Latin name of Fuentes.

Description

The two species differ in traits such as the shape of the snout ; the shape of the premaxilla ; the number of maxillary tooth sockets ; the shape of the eye sockets ; the width between the eyes ; and characteristics of the palate and nasal bones.

Classifiation

Agaresuchus was considered to be sufficiently distinct from the eastern European Allodaposuchus precedens to warrant a new genus.
Alternatively, a 2021 phylogenetic analysis considering additional postcranial material recovered Allodaposuchus as paraphyletic with respect to Agaresuchus and Lohuecosuchus, and suggested that both A. fontisensis and A. subjuniperus belong within the genus Allodaposuchus proper, which would render Agaresuchus as a junior synonym of Allodaposuchus. The cladogram from Blanco's 2021 study is shown below: