Nundasuchus is an extinct genus of crurotarsan, possibly a suchian archosaur related to Paracrocodylomorpha. Remains of this genus are known from the Middle Triassic Manda beds of southwestern Tanzania. It contains a single species, Nundasuchus songeaensis, known from a single partially complete skeleton, including vertebrae, limb elements, osteoderms, and skull fragments. Nundasuchus lived in what is now Tanzania, Africa around 240 million years ago. Members of this genus were likely carnivores, with ziphodont (steak knife-like) teeth and rows of bony plates (osteoderms) along their back. Phylogenetic analyses consistently place this genus within the group Crurotarsi based on features of the ankle. Most studies also consider it a pseudosuchian, meaning that it was more closely related to modern crocodilians than it was to dinosaurs. However, Nundasuchus had an upright stance, with legs situated directly underneath the body, as with various other early pseudosuchians (such as "rauisuchians" and aetosaurs) but unlike modern crocodilians. The classification of Nundasuchus relative to other pseudosuchians is somewhat controversial. Some phylogenetic analyses place it near or at the base of the group, sometimes along with phytosaurs, based on certain plesiomorphic (primitive) features such as teeth on the palate, a short pubis, and characteristics of the calcaneum (heel bone). Another hypothesis, supported by its original 2014 description, considers it to be somewhat more "advanced" than those groups, instead being closer to Ticinosuchus and paracrocodylomorphs (the group containing "rauisuchians" and the ancestors of modern crocodilians). This classification scheme is justified by the presence of "staggered" osteoderms, heart-shaped "spine tables", and a groove on the femoral head. Regardless of these hypotheses, it is clear that Nundasuchus represents a previously unknown group of reptiles with a mixture of features both plesiomorphic and derived with respect to suchian archosaurs.
Discovery
Nundasuchus is known solely from the holotype NMT RB48, a partially complete disassociated and mostly disarticulated individual housed at the National Museum of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam of Tanzania. The holotype consists of a partial right pterygoid, nearly complete right dentary, the right splenial, the right surangular, and isolated teeth, as well as the following postcranial bones: a partial atlas, two articulated mid-neck vertebrae, two articulated mid-back vertebrae, the last back vertebrae, the sacrum with sacral ribs, front-most tail vertebrae, dorsal ribs, gastralia, articulated and isolated paramedian osteoderms, partial shoulder girdle including interclavicle, parts of both clavicles, complete left and right scapulae, and the right coracoid, the left humerus, both pubes, both femora, the left fibula, inner and outer ends of the left tibia, as well as the left astragalus, left calcaneum, left fourth tarsal and all but fourth metatarsals, and outer ends of right third-to-fifth metatarsals, numerous isolated phalanges, a partial ungual and many other fragments. NMTRB48 was discovered by Dr. Sterling Nesbitt in 2007 at an isolated outcrop approximately 100 square meters in area known as locality Z41, along with remains of other archosaurs and rhynchosaurs. Another locality (Z42) occurs in the immediate vicinity, and yielded four cynodonts including two unnamed forms, Scalenodon attridgei and Mandagomphodon hirschsoni, four dicynodonts including Tetragonias njalilus, Sangusaurus parringtonii, Angonisaurus cruickshanki, and Rechnisaurus cristarhynchus, and the archosauromorphs Stenaulorhynchus stockleyi and Asilisaurus kongwe. These localities, located between the Ndatira and Njalila rivers, belong to the fluviolacustrine mudstone-sandstone sequence in the middle of the Lifua Member of the Manda beds of Ruhuhu Basin in Tanzania. Based on comparison with the better studied tetrapod fauna of Subzone C of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, this member is considered to date to the Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic.
Description
Skull Skull material is very limited for Nundasuchus; only a right lower jaw and a right pterygoid bone (which formed part of the roof of the mouth) were preserved in the holotype. However, even these fragments are informative. The pterygoid is convex when seen from above and concave from below. This ventral (lower) concavity manifests in the form of a deep depression bounded by posterior (rear) and medial (inner) ridges. The portion of the pterygoid which would have been positioned along the midline of the palate is unusual compared to other archosaurs due to possessing teeth. These teeth were small and rounded, placed in three rows parallel to the midline of the mouth. Pterygoid teeth are typically absent in archosaurs, although a few avemetatarsalians (Eudimorphodon, Eoraptor, Eodromaeus) and another likely pseudosuchian (Turfanosuchus) are known to have possessed them. The jaw is typical compared to that of most carnivorous archosaurs, being low and long, with serrated, knife-like teeth set in deep sockets. At least 14 teeth were present, with the teeth at the middle of the jaw (around tooth nine) being smaller than those at the front and rear of the jaw. The lower edge of the lateral (outer) side of the jaw was covered in small longitudinal grooves, a feature seemingly unique to Nundasuchus among early archosaurs. Less unusual is the presence of several rows of pits on the lateral surface and large grooves on the medial surface. The surangular bone at the back of the jaw forms a deeply concave jaw joint preceded by a longitudinal ridge (unique to the genus) and followed by a large, vertically-oriented plate of bone.
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