Pattisaura


Pattisaura is an extinct genus of early crocodylomorph pseudosuchians from the Late Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation of Texas, United States. The genus contains a single species, P. gracilis, known from a partial skeleton including the skull.

Discovery and naming

The Pattisaura holotype specimen, TTU-P10927, was discovered in outcrops of the Cooper Canyon Formation in Garza County of Texas, United States. The specimen consists of the cranium articulated with the mandible and the first four cervical vertebrae. The associated postcranial bones are fragmented and incomplete, preserved in the same block as the skull. These include four presacral, two sacral, and two caudal vertebrae, the right scapula and coracoid and parts of both forelimbs, the left ilium and parts of both hindlimbs, and several dorsal osteoderms and ribs.
In 2025, Wu et al. described Pattisaura gracilis as a new genus and species of early crocodylomorphs based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Pattisaura, honors Patricia Kirkpatrick and her family, on whose ranch the holotype and many other vertebrate fossils have been collected by Texas Tech University. This is combined with "saura", the feminine declension of the Greek sauros, meaning "lizard" or "reptile". The specific name, gracilis, refers to the slender morphology of the hindlimbs.

Classification

In their phylogenetic analyses, Wu et al. recovered Pattisaura as a basal crocodylomorph in a sister taxon relationship with Redondavenator. The researchers noted that these two genera are the geographically closest non-crocodyliform crocodylomorphs in North America, although Redondavenator is from the slightly younger Redonda Formation of New Mexico. Their analysis supported this relationship based on a single synapomorphy, an enlarged fourth or fifth maxillary alveolus. As such, this relationship is weakly-supported, but may still indicate close affinities between the two. These results are displayed in the cladogram below: