Turfanosuchus is a genus of archosauriform reptile, likely a gracilisuchid archosaur, which lived during the Middle Triassic (Anisian) of northwestern China.

Young in 1973, based on a partially complete but disarticulated fossil skeleton (IVPP V.32237) found in the Kelamayi Formation of the Turfan Basin.

[2] On the other hand, the ankle was much more advanced than that of animals like Euparkeria, and some features of the skull have only been observed in true archosaurs, particularly early suchians (distant ancestors of modern crocodilians).

[2] However, they are now both known to be present in Yonghesuchus and (to a lesser extent) Gracilisuchus, so they likely diagnose the entire family Gracilisuchidae,[4] or possibly even larger subsets of Archosauria.

The frontal bones (which form the portion of the skull above the eye sockets) wedge into the nasals as a large, V-shaped suture.

Another seemingly non-archosaurian trait reported in Turfanosuchus is the fact that its internal carotid arteries enter the braincase from below, rather than from the sides as in almost all other archosaurs (including Gracilisuchus and Yonghesuchus[4]).

[2] The vertebrae of Turfanosuchus were similar to those of Euparkeria and pseudosuchians, with concavities on their sides and neural spines with expanded tops.

The femur (thigh bone) was similar to that of Euparkeria and most pseudosuchians, but it lacked the offset femoral head and raised fourth trochanter of avemetatarsalians or early crocodylomorphs.

[5] In 2001, Xiao-Chun Wu (of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing) and Anthony Russell (of the University of Calgary) redescribed the fossil.

Wu and Russell prepared the fossil, and noted the limb bones (femur and humerus) resembled those of Ticinosuchus and Euparkeria, though the calcaneum did not.

Wu and Russell concluded that Turfanosuchus was not a suchian nor even a member of the Pseudosuchia (archosaurs closer to crocodilians than to dinosaurs, also known as Crurotarsi in publications which include phytosaurs in the group).

This conclusion was supported by features such as teeth on the palate and internal carotid arteries which entered the braincase from below, rather than from the side.

However, they also ruled out the possibility of a close relationship with Euparkeria, noting several apomorphic ("advanced") features, such as a calcaneal tuber directed further backwards.

[2] In 2010, paleontologists Martín Ezcurra, Agustina Lecuona, and Augustín Martinelli found Turfanosuchus to be a pseudosuchian once again during the study of the recently discovered archosauriform Koilamasuchus.

This analysis noted that some archosaurs (such as Eoraptor) also had palatal teeth, and other (such as Silesaurus and early poposauroids) had internal carotid arteries which entered the braincase from below.

[3] In 2014, Turfanosuchus was found to be closely related to the small suchians Gracilisuchus and Yonghesuchus, in the newly created family Gracilisuchidae.