Massaliasuchus

Massaliasuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian–Campanian) Fuvelian Lignites of southeastern France.^[1] The type species is M. affuvelensis.

Massaliasuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 83.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Illustration of the fossilized remains from the Fuvelian Lignites of France, 1869
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Clade:	Crocodylomorpha
Clade:	Eusuchia
Clade:	†Allodaposuchidae
Genus:	†Massaliasuchus Martin & Buffetaut, 2008
Species:	†M. affuvelensis
Binomial name
†Massaliasuchus affuvelensis (Matheron, 1869)
Synonyms
Crocodylus affuvelensis Matheron, 1869

Systematics

Massaliasuchus was first described in 1869 by Philippe Matheron as Crocodilus affuvelensis, based on remains including skull bones.^[2] The new genus name was given to it in 2008 by Jeremy Martin and Eric Buffetaut. Massaliasuchus was considered to be related to early alligatoroids. Its name means "Marseille crocodile".^[1]

Recent cladistic analysis places Massaliasuchus as a member of Allodaposuchidae, a clade of basal eusuchians from the Late Cretaceous of southern Europe.^[3] The genus can be distinguished from Musturzabalsuchus in having 15 alveoli in the dentary.^[4] However, Massaliasuchus is usually omitted from phylogenetic analyses since it is only represented by poorly-preserved material.^[5]