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Kuttysuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic Norian–Rhaetian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Order:	†Aetosauria
Family:	†Stagonolepididae
Subfamily:	†Typothoracinae
Genus:	†Kuttysuchus Haldar, Ray & Bandyopadhyay, 2025
Type species
†Kuttysuchus minori Haldar, Ray & Bandyopadhyay, 2025

Kuttysuchus is an extinct group of typothoracine aetosaur from the Late Triassic Dharmaram Formation of India.

History and naming

Kuttysuchus was described in early 2025 on the basis of a series of isolated paramedian osteoderms, with one almost complete bone serving as the holotype. All fossils stem from the sandstone-dominated lower unit of the Dharmaram Formation, located in the Pranhita–Godavari Basin of eastern India and thought to date from the mid or late Norian to the Rhaetian stages of the Triassic.

Kuttysuchus was named after T.S. Kutty, who recovered the fossil material. The second part of the name derives from the Greek "suchus", which translates to "crocodile". The species name "minori" meanwhile references the small size of the osteoderms.

Phylogeny

Though the lack of complete paramedian and lateral osteoderms can cause issues in phylogenetic analysis, Haldar, Ray and Bandyopadhyay have argued that the osteoderm armor of Kuttysuchus is complete and distinct enough to be used in order to determine the animals relationships within Aetosauria. Two analysis were run by the team, one based on the work of Haldar et al. (2023) and another based on Reyes et al. (2024), with the latter including the wildcard taxon Garzapelta, noted by Haldar and colleagues to be an example of an aetosaur who's incomplete nature causes conflicting phylogenetic positions.

Following resampling, the first analysis recovers Kuttysuchus as the earliest branching member of the Paratypothoracini, with the contemporary Venkatasuchus in a much more derived position within the group. Nevertheless, this topology is well supported by the study, meaning that it is likely that Kuttysuchus was a paratypothoracin. Though not as well resolved as the first analysis, the second phylogenetic analysis, which included Garzapelta, recovered similar results. It too placed Kuttysuchus at the base of Paratypothoracini, in this scenario in a polytomy with Kocurypelta. Here too the contemporary Venkatasuchus was found to be nested much deeper in the clade. Cladograms based on both analysis are shown below, the left following iteration 1 based on the dataset of Haldar et al. (2023) and the right followint iteration 2 based on the dataset of Reyes et al. (2024).

Paleobiology

The fauna of the lower Dharmaram Formation is dominated by archosaurs, which in addition to Kuttysuchus included a phytosaur of the clade Mystriosuchinae, several sauropodomorphs including Jaklapallisaurus and even a neotheropod. At least two other aetosaurs are known from these sediments, one undescribed taxon similar to Desmatosuchus as well as the paratypothoracin Venkatasuchus. The presence of paratypothoracins has been used in previous studies to suggest that the lower Dharmaram Formation could be as old as the middle Norian.

References

1. ^ Haldar, A.; Ray, S.; Bandyopadhyay, S. (2024). "A new paratypothoracin aetosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Upper Triassic Dharmaram Formation of India and its biostratigraphic implications". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2439533. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2439533.

v t e Aetosauria
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Clade: Pseudosuchia Clade: Aetosauriformes Pseudosuchia see Pseudosuchia Aetosauria see below↓ Aetosauria
Aetosauria Aetosauroides Stagonolepididae Aetosaurinae Aetosaurus Coahomasuchus? Stenomyti? Typothoracinae? Apachesuchus Chilenosuchus? Gorgetosuchus? Kryphioparma Redondasuchus Typothorax Paratypothoracini Garzapelta? Kocurypelta Paratypothorax Rioarribasuchus Tecovasuchus Venkatasuchus Desmatosuchia Stagonolepidinae? Polesinesuchus Stagonolepis Desmatosuchinae sensu lato Adamanasuchus? Aetobarbakinoides? Calyptosuchus? Chilenosuchus? Neoaetosauroides? Scutarx? Desmatosuchini (Desmatosuchinae sensu stricto) Desmatosuchus Gorgetosuchus? Longosuchus Lucasuchus Sierritasuchus
Category

• Late Triassic pseudosuchians
• Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera
• Fossil taxa described in 2024