Ctenosauriscidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

pseudosuchia Pseudosuchia 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". Prior to ...

archosaur Archosauria () is a clade of diapsids, with birds and crocodilians as the only living representatives. Archosaurs are broadly classified as reptiles, in the cladistic sense of the term which includes birds. Extinct archosaurs include non-avi ...

s within the clade

Poposauroidea Poposauroidea is a clade of advanced pseudosuchians (archosaurs closer to crocodilians than to dinosaurs). It includes poposaurids, shuvosaurids, ctenosauriscids, and other unusual pseudosuchians such as ''Qianosuchus'' and '' Lotosaurus''. ...

. Ctenosauriscids existed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America during the

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which is a ...

to the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma ...

period (latest

Olenekian In the geologic timescale, the Olenekian is an age in the Early Triassic epoch; in chronostratigraphy, it is a stage in the Lower Triassic series. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). The Olenekian is sometimes divid ...

Anisian In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from million years ago until million years ago. The Anisian Age succeeds the Olenekian Age (part of the Lower Trias ...

stages). All species had large "sails" on their backs. Ctenosauriscids are among some of the earliest archosaurs and represent the first global radiation of the group.

Genera

Phylogeny

Ctenosauriscidae was named by

Oskar Kuhn Oskar Kuhn (7 March 1908, Munich – 1990) was a German palaeontologist. Life and career Kuhn was educated in Dinkelsbühl and Bamberg and then studied natural science, specialising in geology and paleontology, at the University of Munich, fr ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

to include the genus '' Ctenosauriscus''. It is a

stem-based taxon Phylogenetic nomenclature is a method of nomenclature for taxa in biology that uses phylogenetic definitions for taxon names as explained below. This contrasts with the traditional approach, in which taxon names are defined by a ''type'', which c ...

defined by Richard J. Butler, Stephen L. Brusatte, Mike Reich, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Rainer R. Schoch and Jahn J. Hornung in 2011 as "the most inclusive clade containing ''Ctenosauriscus koeneni'' but not '' Poposaurus gracilis'', ''

Effigia okeeffeae ''Effigia'' was an extinct genus of shuvosaurid known from the Late Triassic of New Mexico, south-western USA. With a bipedal stance, long neck, and a toothless beaked skull, ''Effigia'' and other shuvosaurids bore a resemblance to the ornithomi ...

'', ''

Postosuchus kirkpatricki ''Postosuchus'', meaning "Crocodile from Post", is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, ''P. kirkpatricki'' and ''P. alisonae'', that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. ''Postosuchus'' is a ...

'', ''

Crocodylus niloticus ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct sp ...

'', ''

Ornithosuchus longidens ''Ornithosuchus'' (meaning "bird crocodile") is an extinct genus of pseudosuchians from the Late Triassic ( Carnian) Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. It was originally thought to be the ancestor to the carnosaurian dinosaurs (such as '' ...

'', or ''

Aetosaurus ferratus ''Aetosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian reptile belonging to the order Aetosauria. It is generally considered to be the most primitive aetosaur. Three species are currently recognized: ''A. ferratus'', the type species from Germany ...

''". The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

s below follows a 2011 analysis by Butler ''et al.'', the first based on Brusatte ''et al.'' 2010 and the second based on Nesbitt 2011. Ctenosauriscid model

References

Triassic reptiles of Asia Triassic reptiles of Africa Triassic reptiles of Europe Triassic reptiles of North America Olenekian first appearances Middle Triassic extinctions Prehistoric reptile families {{triassic-reptile-stub