Leptosuchomorpha is a
clade of
phytosaur
Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalent gr ...
s. It is a
node-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 as the last common ancestor of ''
Leptosuchus studeri
''Leptosuchus'' is an extinct genus of leptosuchomorph phytosaur with a complex taxonomical history. Fossils have been found from the Dockum Group and lower Chinle Formation outcropping in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, USA, and date back to t ...
'' and ''
Pseudopalatus pristinus'' and all of its descendants.
Phylogeny
Below is a
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 ...
from Stocker (2012):
[
]
References
Phytosaurs
Late Triassic reptiles of Europe
Late Triassic reptiles of North America
Late Triassic first appearances
Late Triassic extinctions
Taxa named by Michelle R. Stocker
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