Proterosuchidae

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ARCHOSAUROMORPHA - Archosauromorpha, Archosauria (clade), Thecodontia (grade)
Taxonomy Phylogeny 
o Sauria
|--Lepidosauromorpha
`--o Archosauromorpha
   |?--Choristodera
   `--+--Rhynchosauria
      `--+--Trilophosauridae
         `--+--Prolacertiformes
            `--o--Proterosuchidae 
               `--+--Erythrosuchidae
                  `--+--Euparkeriidae
                     `--o--Proterochampsidae
                        `--o Archosauria
                           |--o Ornithodira
                           |  |--Pterosauria
                           |  `--Dinosauromorpha
                           `--Crurotarsi

Archosauromorpha topics: | Archosauromorpha Characteristics | Ecology | Evolutionary History | Archosauriformes | Archosauria | "Thecodontia" | References | Links




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Contents

[edit] Introduction

Proterosuchidae (or Chasmatosuchidae) are an early, most certainly paraphyletic, assemblage of basal archosaurs whose fossils are known from the Latest Permian of Russia and the Early Triassic of southern Africa, Russia, China, Australia, and Antarctica. They were slender, medium-sized (about 1.5 meters long), long-snouted and superficially crocodile-like animals, although they lack the armoured scutes of true crocodiles, and in their skeletal features are much more primitive. Their most characteristic feature is a distinct down-turning of the premaxilla (the front of the upper jaw, which overhangs the lower jaw). the limbs are short and indicate a sprawling posture, like contemporary lizards but unlike most later archosaurs.

The Proterosuchids represent perhaps the earliest adaptive radiation of the archosaurs. They gave rise to the Erythrosuchidae some time in the Early Triassic.

References:

  • Benton, M. J. (2000), Vertebrate Paleontology, 2nd Ed.; (2004) 3rd edition Blackwell Science Ltd
  • Carroll, R. L. (1988), Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, WH Freeman & Co.

MAK060510 Wikipedia

[edit] Information

Range: Late Permian to Early Triassic (Changhsingian to Olenekian) of Russia, South Africa & Australia -- possibly South America.

Author Broom, 1906 or von Huene, 1914

[edit] Systematics

Proterosuchidae is an outgroup of Archosauria sensu Gauthier, 1986, composed of archaic archosauromorphs ranging from the Upper Permian of Russia to the Lower Triassic of southern Africa, and thus arguably representing one of the earliest adaptive radiations of Archosauromorpha. Proterosuchidae is primarily underwritten by symplesiomorphic characters and thus its holophyly is questionable, although the distinct down-turning of the premaxilla is an autapomorphy of the clade, most likely attributable to their basal position on the archosaur cladogram (Charig & Sues 1976, Carroll 1988, Benton in Dodson et al 1990). Furthermore, the lack of a lateral mandibular fenestra seems to support holophyly of Proterosuchidae.

JGK EvoWiki Creative Commons License

[edit] Characters

Characters: $ marked down-turn of premaxilla; supratemporal and postparietal, pineal opening, all retained; mandibular fenestra absent; shoulder girdle clearly divided as scapula & coracoid (compare Lepidosaurs); flat pelvis without thyroid fenestration; sprawling gait: head of femur terminal and directed horizontally to acetabulum.

ATW040206 Palaeos.com

[edit] Taxonomy

see also Proterosuchidae - list of species (Mikko's Phylogeny Archive)

[edit] External links

The following section is in html (web page) format and needs to be converted to wiki markup. This involves removing the html tags and replacing them with wiki tags. For help in editing Palaeos org pages, see the edit help page

Links: <a href="http://www.mathematical.com/dinoarchosaurus.html">Archosaurus</a>; <a href="http://www.nathis.nl/fauna/Archosauriers.htm">Nathis Archosauriërs</a> (Dutch); <a href="http://users.tamuk.edu/kfjab02/dinos/VPDINOSAURS.htm">Dinosaur Origins</a>; <a href="http://www.urweltmuseum.com/dinos/pages/Chasmatosaurus.htm">Chasmatosaurus</a> (German); <a href="http://leute.server.de/frankmuster/P/Proterosuchia.htm">Unterordnung Proterosuchia</a> (German -- elementary, but good); <a href="http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Reptilia/Archosauromorpha/Proterosuchidae.htm">Proterosuchidae</a> (Mikko's Phylogeny); <a href="http://www.mathematical.com/dinoarchosaurus.html">Archosaurus</a>; <a href="http://www.dinosaurios.net/cro/cro2_arcosm.htm">Arcosauromorfa</a><a href="http://www.dinosaurios.net/cro/cro2_arcosm.htm">.</a>   ATW040206

[edit] Credits

ATW040206 Palaeos; JGK EvoWiki; MAK060510 Wikipedia; this page MAK061023

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