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Crocodylomorph
Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. Extinct crocodylomorphs were considerably more ecologically diverse than modern crocodillians. The earliest and most primitive crocodylomorphs are represented by " sphenosuchians", a paraphyletic assemblage containing small-bodied, slender forms with elongated limbs that walked upright, which represents the ancestral morphology of Crocodylomorpha. These forms persisted until the end of the Jurassic. During the Jurassic, crocodylomorphs morphologically diversified into numerous niches, with the subgroups Neosuchia (which includes modern crocodilians) and the extinct Thalattosuchia adapting to aquatic life, while some terrestrial groups adopted herbivorous and omnivorous lifestyles. Terrestrial crocodylomorphs would continue to co-exist alongside aquatic forms until becoming extinct du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Carnufex
''Carnufex'' is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph suchian from the Late Triassic of North America. The genus was first described in 2015 by Zanno ''et al.'', who named the Binomial nomenclature, binomial ''Carnufex carolinensis'', meaning "Carolina butcher". Two specimens are known, the holotype skull and skeleton NCSM 21558, and the referred humerus NCSM 21623. The specimens are from the Carnian-age Pekin Formation, which dates to 231 million years ago. Based on the holotype, ''Carnufex'' would have been about long and tall, although it may have gotten larger due to the holotype not being fully grown. Discovery NCSM 21558 was discovered in a red Fluvial processes, fluvial Conglomerate (geology), conglomerate belonging to the mid-upper portion Pekin Formation of North Carolina, which formed in the Carnian age of the Late Triassic, around 231 million years ago. This specimen was described in a 2015 ''Scientific Reports'' article by Lindsay Zanno, Lindsay E. Zanno, Susan Drymal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Junggarsuchus
''Junggarsuchus'' () is an extinct genus of sphenosuchian crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorph from the Middle Jurassic, Middle or Late Jurassic period of China. The type species, type and only species is ''J. sloani''. The Genus, generic name of ''Junggarsuchus'' comes from the Junggar Basin (the anglicization of Dzungaria, Dzungar), where the fossil was found, and the Greek (language), Greek word "''souchos''" meaning crocodile. The specific name, "''sloani''" is in honor of C. Sloan, who is credited with finding the holotype. Discovery ''Junggarsuchus'' was found in the upper part of the Lower Member of the Shishugou Formation in Xinjiang, China at the Wucaiwan locality. The type and only specimen was described in 2004 by James Clark, Xu Xing (paleontologist), Xu Xing, Catherine Forester, and Yuan Wang in ''Nature (journal), Nature'', but it did not receive a full osteological description until 2022 when Alexander Ruebenstahl, Michael Klein, and Yi Hongyu published a monograph along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Terrestrisuchus
''Terrestrisuchus'' is an extinct genus of very small early crocodylomorph that was about long. Fossils have been found in Wales and Southern England and date from near the very end of the Late Triassic during the Rhaetian, and it is known by type species, type and only known species ''T. gracilis''. ''Terrestrisuchus'' was a long-legged, active predator that lived entirely on land, unlike modern crocodilians. It inhabited a chain of tropical, low-lying islands that made up southern Great Britain, Britain, along with similarly small-sized dinosaurs and abundant rhynchocephalians. Numerous fossils of ''Terrestrisuchus'' are known from fissures in limestone karst which made up the islands it lived on, which formed caverns and sinkholes that preserved the remains of ''Terrestrisuchus'' and other island-living reptiles. Description ''Terrestrisuchus'' was a small, slender crocodylomorph with very long legs, quite unlike modern crocodilians. It was initially estimated to have been be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Saltoposuchus
''Saltoposuchus'' is an extinct genus of small (1–1.5 m and 10–15 kg), long-tailed crocodylomorph reptile (Sphenosuchia), from the Norian (Late Triassic) of Europe. The name translated means "leaping foot crocodile". It has been proposed that ''Terrestrisuchus gracilis'' and ''Saltoposuchus connectens'' represent different ontogenetic stages of the same genus. ''Saltoposuchus'' was commonly (and incorrectly) referred to in popular literature as the ancestor (or close ancestors) to dinosaurs; however, recent scientific research shows that this is not the case. Description and paleobiology Fossil evidence of Sphenosuchia and early crocodylomorphs lead paleontologists to conclude that ''Saltoposuchus'' is a terrestrial animal. As a monophyletic group of crocodylomorphs, Saltoposuchidae have many key morphological traits shared with most crocodylomorphs. Skull Much like other crocodylomorphs, ''Saltoposuchus'' skulls had a (reduced) antorbital fenestra, an overhanging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Litargosuchus
''Litargosuchus'' is a sphenosuchian crocodylomorph, a basal member of the crocodylomorph clade from the Early Jurassic of South Africa. Its genus name ''Litargosuchus'' is derived from Greek meaning "fast running crocodile" and its species name ''leptorhynchus'' refers to its gracile snout. ''Litargosuchus'', along with all of South Africa's crocodylomorph taxa, are confined to the upper Elliot Formation (UEF) in South Africa. History of discovery In 1988 James Kitching found the holotype fossil of ''Litargosuchus'' in a field expedition in Eagles Crag, a farm near Barkly East in the Eastern Cape. The material recovered consisted of a near-complete skull with its mandible and several bones belonging to the postcranial skeleton. At the time, Kitching was the director of the Evolutionary Studies Institute (previously the Bernard Price Institute) of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Kitching brought the holotype fossil back to the institute where he descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Thalattosuchia
Thalattosuchia is a clade of mostly marine crocodylomorphs from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous that had a cosmopolitan distribution. They are colloquially referred to as marine crocodiles or sea crocodiles, though they are not members of Crocodilia and records from Thailand and China suggest that some members lived in freshwater. The clade contains two major subgroupings, the Teleosauroidea and Metriorhynchoidea. Teleosauroids are not greatly specialised for oceanic life, with back osteoderms similar to other crocodyliformes. Within Metriorhynchoidea, the Metriorhynchidae displayed extreme adaptions for life in the open ocean, including the transformation of limbs into flippers, the development of a tail fluke, and smooth, scaleless skin, and probably gave Viviparity, live birth, seemingly uniquely among archosaurs. Taxonomy The term Thalattosuchia was coined by Fraas in 1901.Fraas E. 1901. Die Meerkrokodile (Thalattosuchia n. g.) eine neue Sauriergruppe der Juraform ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sphenosuchus
''Sphenosuchus'' ("wedge crocodile") is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa, discovered and described early in the 20th century. The skull is preserved very well but other than elements of the forelimb and isolated parts of the hind limb, the ''Sphenosuchus'' material is incomplete. It was probably quadrupedal, but may have been a facultative biped. ''Sphenosuchus'' was first thoroughly described in 1972 by the British palaeontologist Alick Walker, in a paper in the journal ''Nature''. Walker suggested, based on detailed (but still preliminary at that time) studies of the skull of ''Sphenosuchus'' and modern birds, that crocodylomorphs and birds might share an immediate common ancestor. Walker recanted his hypothesis in 1985, but restated and elaborated on it (in essence 'de-recanting') in a monograph published in 1990, which provided the most comprehensive description and discussion of ''Sphenosuchus'' yet published. Broom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Archosaur
Archosauria () or archosaurs () is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant taxon, extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistics, cladistic sense of the term includes all living and extinct relatives of birds and crocodilians such as non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, phytosaurs, aetosaurs and rauisuchians as well as many marine reptile#Extinct groups, Mesozoic marine reptiles. Modern paleontologists define Archosauria as a crown group that includes the most recent common ancestor of living birds and crocodilians, and all of its descendants. The base of Archosauria splits into two clades: Pseudosuchia, which includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives; and Avemetatarsalia, which includes birds and their extinct relatives (such as non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs). Older definitions of the group Archosauria rely on shared morphology (biology), morphological ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Redondavenator
''Redondavenator'' (meaning " Redonda Formation hunter") is a genus of sphenosuchian, a type of basal crocodylomorph, the clade that comprises the crocodilians and their closest kin. It is known from a partial upper jaw and left shoulder girdle found in rocks of the Norian-Rhaetian-age Upper Triassic Redonda Formation, northeastern New Mexico. It is notable for its large size; the minimum estimated skull length for the holotype individual is . This makes it the largest Triassic crocodylomorph ever recorded.Lindsay E. Zanno, Susan Drymala, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Vincent P. Schneider (2015Early crocodylomorph increases top tier predator diversity during rise of dinosaurs Scientific Reports volume 5, Article number: 9276 History and description ''Redondavenator'' is based on NMMNH P–125615, a partial anterior skull and associated partial left scapula and coracoid. These fossils were collected during one of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science expeditions to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sphenosuchia
Sphenosuchia is a suborder of basal crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Triassic and occurred into the Middle Jurassic. Most were small, gracile animals with an erect limb posture. They are now thought to be ancestral to crocodyliforms, a group which includes all living crocodilians. Stratigraphic range The earliest known members of the group (i.e. '' Hesperosuchus'') are early Norian in age, found in the Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation. Only one sphenosuchian is currently known from the Middle Jurassic, '' Junggarsuchus'', from the Junggar Basin ( Shishugou Formation) of China during either the Bathonian or the Callovian (~165 Ma) age,Clark, J.M., ''et al.'' (2004A Middle Jurassic 'sphenosuchian' from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull''Nature'' 430:1021-1024. and the Hallopodidae are known from the Late Jurassic of North America. Phylogeny The monophyly of the group is debated, although several synapomorphies characterize the clade, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Crocodilia
Crocodilia () is an order of semiaquatic, predatory reptiles that are known as crocodilians. They first appeared during the Late Cretaceous and are the closest living relatives of birds. Crocodilians are a type of crocodylomorph pseudosuchian, a subset of archosaurs that appeared about 235 million years ago and were the only survivors of the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. While other crocodylomorph groups further survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, notably sebecosuchians, only the crocodilians have survived into the Quaternary. The order includes the true crocodiles (family Crocodylidae), the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), and the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae). Although the term "crocodiles" is sometimes used to refer to all of these families, the term "crocodilians" is less ambiguous. Extant crocodilians have flat heads with long snouts and tails that are compressed on the sides, with their eyes, ears, and n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Neosuchia
Neosuchia is a clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all Crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorphs more closely related to ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (the Nile Crocodile) than to ''Notosuchus terrestris''. Members of Neosuchia generally share a crocodilian-like bodyform adapted to freshwater aquatic life, as opposed to the terrestrial habits of more basal crocodylomorph groups. The earliest neosuchian is suggested to be the Early Jurassic ''Calsoyasuchus'', which lived during the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian stages in North America. It is often identified as a member of Goniopholididae, though this is disputed, and the taxon may lie outside Neosuchia, which places the earliest records of the group in the Middle Jurassic. Characteristics Members of Neosuchia have a wide diversity of skull shapes. Several groups convergently evolved elongate gharial-like skulls, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
