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Pseudosuchia
Pseudosuchia, from Ancient Greek ψεύδος (''pseúdos)'', meaning "false", and σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile" is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Pseudosuchians are also informally known as "crocodilian-line archosaurs", in contrast to the "bird-line archosaurs" or Avemetatarsalia. Despite Pseudosuchia meaning "false crocodiles", the name is a misnomer as true crocodilians are now defined as a subset of the group. The clade Pseudosuchia is potentially equivalent to another term, Crurotarsi, even though the latter has a different, Node-based taxon, node-based definition: "all taxa the least inclusive clade containing ''Rutiodon carolinensis'' (Emmons, 1856), and ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (Laurenti, 1768)." Many paleontologists of the late 20th century took this proposal for granted, using Crurotarsi as the term for crocodilian ancestors. In 2011, a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Crurotarsi
Crurotarsi is a clade of archosauriform reptiles that includes crocodilians and stem-crocodilians and possibly bird-line archosaurs too if the extinct, crocodile-like phytosaurs are more distantly related to crocodiles than traditionally thought. Prior to 2011, the group had invariably included only archosaurs closer to crocodilians than to birds and other dinosaurs. An equivalent term for the crocodilian side of the archosaur family tree is Pseudosuchia. This traditional definition of Crurotarsi assumed that phytosaurs were crown-group archosaurs and more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. However, a 2011 study argued that the phytosaur lineage evolved prior to the split between birds and crocodilians. This would mean that phytosaurs were not true archosaurs, and therefore could not be considered representatives of croc-line archosaurs. The name Crurotarsi is derived from the Latin word '' crus'' (lower leg) and the Greek word '' tarsos'' (ankle). It refers to the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Aetosauria
Aetosaurs () are heavily armored reptiles belonging to the extinct order Aetosauria (; from Greek, (aetos, "eagle") and (, "lizard")). They were medium- to large-sized omnivorous or herbivorous pseudosuchians, part of the branch of archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds and other dinosaurs. All known aetosaurs are restricted to the Late Triassic, and in some strata from this time they are among the most abundant fossil vertebrates. They have small heads, upturned snouts, erect limbs, and a body ornamented with four rows of plate-like osteoderms (bony scutes). Aetosaur fossil remains are known from Europe, North and South America, parts of Africa, and India. Since their armoured plates are often preserved and are abundant in certain localities, aetosaurs serve as important Late Triassic tetrapod index fossils. Many aetosaurs had wide geographic ranges, but their stratigraphic ranges were relatively short. Therefore, the presence of particular aetosaurs can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Aetosaur
Aetosaurs () are heavily armored reptiles belonging to the extinct order (biology), order Aetosauria (; from Ancient Greek, Greek, (aetos, "eagle") and (, "lizard")). They were medium- to large-sized Omnivore, omnivorous or Herbivore, herbivorous pseudosuchians, part of the branch of archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds and other dinosaurs. All known aetosaurs are restricted to the Late Triassic, and in some strata from this time they are among the most abundant fossil vertebrates. They have small heads, upturned snouts, erect limbs, and a body ornamented with four rows of plate-like osteoderms (bony scutes). Aetosaur fossil remains are known from Europe, North America, North and South America, parts of Africa, and India. Since their armoured plates are often preserved and are abundant in certain localities, aetosaurs serve as important Late Triassic tetrapod index fossils. Many aetosaurs had wide geographic ranges, but their Stratigraphy, stratigraphic ... [...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] |
Erpetosuchid
Erpetosuchidae is an extinct family of pseudosuchian archosaurs. Erpetosuchidae was named by D. M. S. Watson in 1917 to include ''Erpetosuchus''. It includes the type species '' Erpetosuchus granti'' from the Late Triassic of Scotland, ''Erpetosuchus'' sp. from the Late Triassic of eastern United States and '' Parringtonia gracilis'' from the middle Middle Triassic of Tanzania; the group might also include '' Dyoplax arenaceus'' from the Late Triassic of Germany, '' Archeopelta arborensis'' and '' Pagosvenator candelariensis'' from Brazil and '' Tarjadia ruthae'' from Argentina. Description General features Erpetosuchids were lithe but well-armored carnivorous pseudosuchians. Two rows of overlapping armored plates (osteoderms) extended from the neck to the tail, supplemented by an additional row on the back and tail and small oval-shaped osteoderms on the legs and possibly the arms as well. The osteoderms were unusually sculptured by deep pits and ranged in shape and thickness ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Prestosuchus
''Prestosuchus'' (meaning "Prestes crocodile") is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian in the group Loricata, which also includes ''Saurosuchus'' and ''Postosuchus''. It has historically been referred to as a "rauisuchian", and was the defining member of the family Prestosuchidae, though the validity of both of these groups is questionable: Rauisuchia is now considered Paraphyly, paraphyletic and Prestosuchidae is Polyphyly, polyphyletic in its widest form. History of study The holotype of ''Prestosuchus chiniquensis'' was discovered by Wilhelm Rau alongside the holotype of ''Rauisuchus tiradentes'' in the Santa Maria Formation at the Paleontological Site Chiniquá, near the city of São Pedro do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, São Pedro do Sul in 1928 or 1929, and the fossils were shipped back to Germany for study by the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene. Von Huene named the genus ''Prestosuchus'' in 1938 in honor of Vicentino Prestes de Almeida. This site is located in the geop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Phytosaur
Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in Greek, meaning 'plant lizard') are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform or basal archosaurian reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria and are sometimes referred to as parasuchians. Phytosauria, Parasuchia, Parasuchidae, and Phytosauridae have often been considered equivalent groupings containing the same species. Some recent studies have offered a more nuanced approach, defining Parasuchidae and Phytosauridae as nested clades within Phytosauria as a whole. The clade Phytosauria was defined by Paul Sereno in 2005 as '' Rutiodon carolinensis'' and all taxa more closely related to it than to '' Aetosaurus ferratus'', '' Rauisuchus tiradentes'', '' Prestosuchus chiniquensis'', '' Ornithosuchus woodwardi'', or '' Crocodylus niloticus'' (the Nile crocodile). Phytosaurs were long-snouted and heavily armoured, bearing a remarkable resemblance to modern crocodilians in size, appearance, and lifesty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Saurosuchus
''Saurosuchus'' (meaning "lizard crocodile") is an extinct genus of large loricatan pseudosuchian archosaurs that lived in South America during the Late Triassic period. It was a heavy, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal carnivore, likely being the apex predator in the Ischigualasto Formation. Discovery and naming The holotype, PVL 206, was discovered by Galileo J. Scaglia and Leocadio Soria in 1957, lying in a greenish sandstone on the Cancha de Bochas Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina. It consists of a nearly complete, but deformed skull. ''Saurosuchus'' was formally described and named later in 1959 in paleontology, 1959 by Osvaldo. A. Reig. The Genus#Use, generic name, ''Saurosuchus'', is derived from the Greek language, Greek (, meaning lizard) and (, meaning crocodile). The Specific name (zoology), specific name, ''galilei'', is in honour to Galileo J. Scaglia, who unearthed and Fossil collecting#Preparatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Suchia
Suchia (from Ancient Greek σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile") is a clade of archosaurs containing the majority of pseudosuchians (crocodilians and their extinct relatives). It was defined as the least inclusive clade containing ''Aetosaurus, Aetosaurus ferratus'', ''Rauisuchus, Rauisuchus tiradentes'', ''Prestosuchus, Prestosuchus chiniquensis'', and ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (the living Nile crocodile) by Nesbitt (2011). Generally the only pseudosuchian group which is omitted from Suchia is the Family (biology), family Ornithosuchidae, although at least one analysis classifies ornithosuchids as close relatives of Erpetosuchidae, erpetosuchids (which are usually considered suchians) and aetosaurs (which are suchians by definition of the group). Phytosaurs are also excluded from Suchia, although it is not certain whether they qualify as pseudosuchians in the first place. There is some controversy over which traits, if any, can be used to distinguish suchians from non ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ornithosuchidae
Ornithosuchidae is an extinct family (biology), family of Pseudosuchia, pseudosuchian archosaurs (distant relatives of modern Crocodilia, crocodilians) from the Triassic period. Ornithosuchids were quadrupedal and facultatively bipedal (e.g. like Chimpanzee, chimpanzees), meaning that they had the ability to walk on two legs for short periods of time. They had distinctive, downturned snouts, unique, "crocodile-reversed" ankle bones, and several other features that distinguish them from other archosaurs. Ornithosuchids were geographically widespread during the Carnian and Norian stages of the Late Triassic with members known from Argentina, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Four genera, comprising ''Ornithosuchus'', ''Venaticosuchus, Dynamosuchus,'' and ''Riojasuchus'' are presently known. The family was first erected by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1908. Description Skull Ornithosuchids can be identified by the presence of an arched Diastema (dentistry), diastem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Desmatosuchus
''Desmatosuchus'' (, from Greek language, Greek δεσμός ''desmos'' 'link' + σοῦχος ''soûkhos'' 'crocodile') is an extinct genus of archosaur belonging to the Order Aetosauria. It lived during the Late Triassic. Description ''Desmatosuchus'' was a large quadrupedal reptile measuring to over long and weighing about .von Baczko, M. B., Desojo, J. B., Gower, D. J., Ridgely, R., Bona, P., & Witmer, L. M. (2021)New digital braincase endocasts of two species of Desmatosuchus and neurocranial diversity within Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) The Anatomical Record, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24798 Its vertebral column had amphicoelous Vertebra, centra and 3 sacral vertebrae. This archosaur's most distinguishing anatomical characteristics were its scapulae which possessed large acromion, acromion processes commonly referred to as "shoulder spikes". The forelimbs were much shorter than the hindlimbs, with humerus, humeri less than two-thirds the length of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Poposaurus
''Poposaurus'' is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian archosaur from the Late Triassic of the southwestern and eastern United States. It belongs to the clade Poposauroidea, an unusual group of Triassic pseudosuchians that includes sail-backed, beaked, and aquatic forms. Fossils have been found in Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Virginia. Except for the skull, most parts of the skeleton are known. The type species, ''P. gracilis'', was described and named by Maurice Goldsmith Mehl in 1915. A second species, ''P. langstoni'', was originally the type species of the genus ''Lythrosuchus''. Since it was first described, ''Poposaurus'' has been variously classified as a dinosaur, a phytosaur, and a "rauisuchian". Like theropod dinosaurs, ''Poposaurus'' was an obligate biped, meaning that it walked on two legs rather than four. However, as a pseudosuchian, it is more closely related to living crocodilians than to dinosaurs. ''Poposaurus'' is thought to have evolved this form of locomot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
