Chroniosuchia

From Palaeos

o Tetrapoda crown group
`--o REPTILIOMORPHA 
   |--Embolomeri (=Anthracosauria)
   |?--Chroniosuchia
   `--o?--Gephyrostegidae
      `--+--Seymouriamorpha
         `--+--Westlothiana lizziae
            `--o--Diadectomorpha
               `--+--Casineria kiddi
                  `--o Amniota
                     |--Sauropsida
                     `--Synapsida

[edit] Chroniosuchia

Chroniosuchus paradoxus. Pictiure of D. Bogdanov

Families: Chroniosuchidae, Bystrowianidae.

Age: Tatarian (upper Permian) to Ladinian (middle Triassic).

Distribution: Eastern Europe, China (Li, 2001).

Size: Skulls of Chroniosuchidae shown in Tverdokhlebov et al. (2005) are about seven to ten centimetres long.

Diet: Piscivores (Tverdokhlebov et al., 2005).

Comments: Chroniosuchia are a group of "anthracosaur"-grade tetrapods best known from the upper Permian, though the family Bystrowianidae survived until the middle Triassic (Novikov & Shishkin, 2000). They seem to have had a superficially crocodile-like appearance with an armor of scutes.

[edit] References

Li J. 2000. The most primitive lower tetrapod fauna in China. Science in China (Series D) [Chinese edition] 30 (3): 279-283. [in Chinese, English translation 2001. Science in China (Series D) [English edition] 44 (1): 47-51].

Novikov, I. V., & M. A. Shishkin. 2000. Triassic Chroniosuchians (Amphibia, Anthracosauromorpha) and the evolution of trunk dermal scutes in bystrowianids. Paleontological Journal 34 (Suppl. 2): 165-178. (abstract)

Tverdokhlebov, V. P., G. I. Tverdokhlebova, A. V. Minikh, M. V. Surkov & M. J. Benton. 2005. Upper Permian vertebrates and their sedimentological context in the South Urals, Russia. Earth-Science Reviews 69: 27-77.

Credits

CKT070522