"Mesosuchia" is an obsolete name for a group of

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

, semi-aquatic, or fully aquatic

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 mor ...

reptiles Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

Characteristics

The marine crocodile '' Metriorhynchus'' had paddle-like forelimbs, '' Dakosaurus andiniensis'' had a skull that was adapted to eat large sea reptiles, and '' Shamosuchus'' was adapted for eating

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s and

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

s. ''Shamosuchus'' also looked like modern crocodiles and was very closely related to their direct ancestor.

History

The "Mesosuchia" were formerly placed at Suborder rank as within Crocodylia. The "first" crocodiles were placed within their own suborder,

Protosuchia Protosuchia is a group of extinct Mesozoic crocodyliforms. They were small in size (~1 meter in length) and Terrestrial animal, terrestrial. In phylogenetic terms, Protosuchia is considered an informal group because it is a evolutionary grade, gr ...

; whilst extant species where placed within Suborder

Eusuchia Eusuchia is a clade of neosuchian Crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Early Cretaceous, which includes modern Crocodilia, crocodilians. Along with Dyrosauridae and Sebecosuchia, they were the only crocodyliformes who survi ...

(meaning 'true crocodiles'). Mesosuchia were the crocodylians "in between".But it is no longer regarded as genuine because it belongs to a paraphyletic group. It is replaced by its phylogenetic equivalent

Mesoeucrocodylia Mesoeucrocodylia is the clade that includes Eusuchia and crocodyliforms formerly placed in the paraphyletic group Mesosuchia. The group appeared during the Early Jurassic, and continues to the present day. Diagnosis It was long known that Me ...

, which contains the taxa herein, the

Crocodylia Crocodilia () is an Order (biology), 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 crocodylomorp ...

, and some allied forms more recently discovered.

Classification

The "Mesosuchia" was composed as: * Family Hsisosuchidae * Family Gobiosuchidae ** Infraorder

Notosuchia Notosuchia is a clade of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian Crocodylomorpha, crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogeny, phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group ...

*** Family Notosuchidae *** Family

Sebecidae Sebecidae is an extinct family of prehistoric terrestrial sebecosuchian crocodylomorphs, known from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Europe and South America. They were the latest surviving group of non-crocodilian crocodylomorphs. The oldes ...

*** Family

Baurusuchidae Baurusuchidae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is a group of terrestrial hypercarnivorous crocodilians from South America (Argentina and Brazil) and possibly Pakistan. Baurusuchidae has been, ...

** Infraorder

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 ''Croc ...

*** Family

Trematochampsidae Trematochampsidae is an extinct family of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms. Fossils are present from Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Argentina, and Brazil (in the case of '' Caririsuchus'', where some specimens have been found in the Romualdo Membe ...

*** Family

Peirosauridae Peirosauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Cretaceous period. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodyliforms that evolved a rather dog-like skull, and were terrestrial carnivores. It was phylogenetically defined ...

**** Genus '' Lomasuchus'' **** Genus '' Montealtosuchus'' ***Family Elosuchidae *** Family Atoposauridae *** Family

Dyrosauridae Dyrosauridae is a family of extinct neosuchian crocodyliforms that lived from the Campanian to the Eocene. Dyrosaurid fossils are globally distributed, having been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Over a dozen sp ...

*** Family

Pholidosauridae Pholidosauridae is an extinct family of aquatic neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils have been found in Europe (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden), Africa (Algeria, Niger, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia), North Amer ...

**** Genus ''

Sarcosuchus ''Sarcosuchus'' (), from Ancient Greek σάρξ (''sárx''), meaning "flesh", and σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile", is an extinct genus of crocodyliform a that lived during the Early Cretaceous, from the late Hauterivian to the ...

'' *** Infraorder

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 member ...

- Sea "Crocodiles" **** Family

Teleosauridae Teleosauridae is a family of extinct typically marine crocodylomorphs similar to the modern gharial that lived during the Jurassic period. Teleosaurids were thalattosuchians closely related to the fully aquatic metriorhynchoids, but were less ...

**** Family

Metriorhynchidae Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period ( Bajocian to early Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchid ...

*****Genus ''

Dakosaurus ''Dakosaurus'' is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph within the family Metriorhynchidae that lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. It was large, with teeth that were serrated and compressed lateromedially (flattened from side to s ...

'' *** Family

Goniopholididae Goniopholididae is an extinct family of moderate-sized semi-aquatic neosuchian crocodyliformes. Their bodyplan and morphology are convergent on living crocodilians. They lived across Laurasia (Asia, Europe and North America) between the Middle J ...

*** Family

Paralligatoridae Paralligatoridae is an extinct family of neosuchian crocodyliforms that existed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It includes the genera '' Paralligator'', '' Brillanceausuchus'', '' Kansajsuchus'', '' Shamosuchus'', '' Scolomastax'', ...

**** Genus '' Shamosuchus''

References

External links

A teleosaurid (Crocodylia, Mesosuchia) from the Toarcian of Madagascar and its palaeobiogeographical significance
Crocodyliformes Jurassic crocodylomorphs Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Paleocene crocodylomorphs Eocene crocodylomorphs Hettangian first appearances Eocene extinctions Paraphyletic groups {{Paleo-archosaur-stub