page_title: Marasuchus
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Marasuchus / Classification
caption_attribution_description: English: Life reconstruction of Marasuchus lilloensis
context_page_description: Marasuchus is a genus of basal dinosauriform archosaur which is possibly synonymous with Lagosuchus. Both genera lived during the Late Triassic in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. Marasuchus contains a single species, Marasuchus lilloensis.
  Marasuchus lilloensis was originally designated as Lagosuchus lilloensis in 1972. It was considered a new species of Lagosuchus, a contemporary archosaur described the previous year. However, a 1994 study argued that the original material of Lagosuchus was undiagnostic. This would mean that Lagosuchus and its original species could be considered nomen dubia. Specimens of Lagosuchus stored at a museum in San Miguel de Tucuman were considered to be more diagnostic than those of L. talampayensis, and thus they were given a new genus: Marasuchus. A 2019 study redescribed the original material of Lagosuchus and concluded that it was valid and not readily distinguishable from Marasuchus lilloensis. This suggests that Marasuchus lilloensis is a junior synonym of Lagosuchus talampayensis.
  Specimens referred to the genus Marasuchus possessed some, but not all of the adaptations which traditionally characterized dinosaurs.
context_section_description: Marasuchus was part of Avemetatarsalia, the branch of archosaurs closer to birds and other dinosaurs rather than to crocodilians. More specifically, it was a dinosauriform, meaning that it was closer to dinosaurs than the lagerpetids. Although it was not as close as silesaurids such as Silesaurus, Marasuchus is still one of the most completely known avemetatarsalians, assisting knowledge of the early evolution of dinosaur-like characteristics. The following is a cladogram of basal Dinosauriformes according to Nesbitt (2011), and Dinosauria according to Baron et al. (2017):
caption: Life restoration (without feather-like filaments) compared to human legs.
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