Paleorhinus (Greek: "Old Nose") is an extinct genus of widespread basal phytosaur known from the Late Triassic (late Carnian stage). The genus was named in 1904 based on the type species Paleorhinus bransoni, which is known from Wyoming and Texas in the United States. Another valid species, Paleorhinus angustifrons from Bavaria, Germany, is also commonly referred to the genus. Paleorhinus had a length of about .
Paleorhinus (Greek: "Old Nose") is an extinct genus of widespread basal phytosaur known from the Late Triassic (late Carnian stage). The genus was named in 1904 based on the type species Paleorhinus bransoni, which is known from Wyoming and Texas in the United States. Another valid species, Paleorhinus angustifrons from Bavaria, Germany, is also commonly referred to the genus. Paleorhinus had a length of about .
Paleorhinus has had a complicated taxonomic history involving frequent synonymy between diagnostic and undiagnostic material. This is mainly due to the fact that it is a quintessential basal phytosaur, mostly distinguished by a lack of specializations rather than unique traits. Historically, it was common practice to lump all basal phytosaurs into only one or two genera, rendering those genera paraphyletic evolutionary grades ancestral to later phytosaurs. More recently, these grades have been broken up into multiple genera. Arganarhinus magnoculus (from Morocco) and Wannia scurriensis (from Texas) were two phytosaur genera originally considered species of Paleorhinus. "Paleorhinus" sawini (from Texas) and "Paleorhinus" parvus (from Wyoming) are two more phytosaur species informally referred to Paleorhinus, though likely closer to more advanced phytosaurs.
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