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Archosauriformes
Archosauriformes (Greek for 'ruling lizards', and Latin for 'form') is a clade of diapsid reptiles that developed from archosauromorph ancestors some time in the Latest Permian (roughly 252 million years ago). It was defined by Jacques Gauthier (1994) as the clade stemming from the last common ancestor of Proterosuchidae and Archosauria (the group that contains crocodiles, pterosaurs and dinosaurs bird.html"_;"title="ncluding_bird">ncluding_birds;_Phil_Senter.html" ;"title="bird">ncluding_birds.html" ;"title="bird.html" ;"title="ncluding bird">ncluding birds">bird.html" ;"title="ncluding bird">ncluding birds; Phil Senter">bird">ncluding_birds.html" ;"title="bird.html" ;"title="ncluding bird">ncluding birds">bird.html" ;"title="ncluding bird">ncluding birds; Phil Senter (2005) defined it as the most exclusive clade containing ''Proterosuchus'' and Archosauria. These reptiles, which include members of the family Proterosuchidae and more advanced forms, were originally superficial ...
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Erythrosuchidae
Erythrosuchidae (meaning "red crocodiles" in Greek) are a family of large basal archosauriform carnivores that lived from the later Early Triassic (Olenekian) to the early Middle Triassic (Anisian). Naming The family Erythrosuchidae was named by David Meredith Seares Watson in 1917.D.M.S. Watson. 1917. "A sketch classification of the Pre-Jurassic tetrapod vertebrates". ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1917: 167–186 Description They were the apex predators of their day, with lengths of to almost . Their fossil remains are known to date from South Africa (Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin), China, India and European Russia, from the Early to Middle Triassic. Erythrosuchids were unusually large and robust archosauromorphs. Several features set them apart from other archosauriformes and are also seen in later, more derived archosaurs. For example, they lack teeth on the palate, which are found in other early archosauriformes, such as ''Doswellia'' and euparke ...
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Proterosuchidae
Proterosuchidae is an early family of basal archosauriforms whose fossils are known from the Latest Permian and the Early Triassic of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and possibly South America. The name comes from Greek πρότερο- ("first") and σοῦχος ("crocodile"). Description They were slender, medium-sized (about long, largest specimens reached ), long-snouted and superficially crocodile-like animals, although they lacked the armoured scutes of true crocodiles, and their skeletal features are much more primitive. The limbs are short and indicate a sprawling posture, like contemporary lizards but unlike most later archosaurs. Their most characteristic feature is a distinct down-turning of the premaxilla (the front of the upper jaw, which overhangs the lower jaw). Evolutionary history The terminal Permian catastrophe, which killed off 95% of all types of life, cleared the world of all large therapsids and allowed the proterosuchids to become the top predators. ...
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Cuyosuchus
''Cuyosuchus'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile. Its fossils have been found in Late Triassic-aged rocks of the Cacheuta Formation, Cuyo Basin, Mendoza, Argentina. ''Cuyosuchus'' is based on MCNAM 2669, a partial postcranial skeleton including 26 vertebrae from all parts of the spinal column, ribs, partial pectoral girdles, part of the pelvis, upper arms and part of the lower arms, the left thigh bone and shin, pitted armor scutes, and fragments. It was described in 1961 by Osvaldo Reig and named after the Cuyo Basin; the type species is ''C. huenei'', referring to German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene Friedrich von Huene, born Friedrich Richard von Hoinigen, (March 22, 1875 – April 4, 1969) was a German paleontologist who renamed more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe. He also made key contributions about v .... Although originally described as a proterosuchid, restudy by Julia Desojo and colleagues in 2003 foun ...
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Erythrosuchus
''Erythrosuchus'' (from el, ἐρυθρός , 'red' and el, σοῦχος , 'crocodile') is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile from the Triassic of South Africa. Remains have been found from the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group in the Karoo of South Africa. In the Late Triassic, the ecological niche left by ''Erythrosuchus'' was filled by archosaurs like ''Saurosuchus'' and '' Postosuchus''. Description ''Erythrosuchus'' was the largest predator of its time, and was around long. It walked on all fours and had limbs which were positioned semi-vertically under its body, unlike the more sprawling gait of most earlier reptiles. Its head was large and theropod-like, reaching a length of , and had sharp, conical teeth. ''Erythrosuchus'' was the largest erythrosuchid, but apart from its size, was largely similar in appearance to other related genera. It had a large head and comparatively short neck. One of the few distinguishing features of ''Erythrosu ...
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Antarctanax
''Antarctanax'' is a genus of basal archosauriform that during the Triassic lived in Antarctica. The type species is ''Antarctanax shackletoni''. It was a reptile around the size of an iguana. Discovery and naming During a paleontological expedition to the Transantarctic Mountains in 2010 and 2011, a small skeleton was discovered at the Graphite Peak. In 2019, the type species ''Antarctanax shackletoni'' was named and described by Brandon Robert Peecook, Roger Malcolm Harris Smith and Christian Alfred Sidor. The generic name combines a reference to Antarctica — itself derived from Greek ''anti'', "opposite of", and ''arktikos'', "of the Bear" — with a Greek ''anax'', "ruler", a reference to the Archosauria, the "Ruling Reptiles". The specific name honours Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer who named the Beardmore Glacier which runs along the Graphite Peak. The holotype, UWBM 95531, was found in a layer of the lower Fremouw Formation, which dates to the Early Trias ...
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Fenhosuchus
''Fenhosuchus'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform. The holotype, IVPP V 2697, and referred materials have been found in the Hsishihwa locality at Wuhsiang, China, from the Upper Ermaying Formation (also Ehrmaying). The locality dates back to the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic. The genus was named after the Fen River in Shanxi Province from which specimens were found. It may prove to be a chimera being composed of material from several different animals. Some material were believed to represent a rauisuchid. The calcaneum of ''Fenhosuchus'' seems to belong to an erythrosuchid or other basal archosauriform.Gower, D. J. (1996). The tarsus of erythrosuchid archosaurs, and implications for early diapsid phylogeny. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 116:347–375. Much of the material of the tarsal bones seem to be similar to those of the genus '' Shansisuchus''. According to Nesbitt (2009) the assessment of Gower (2000) was correct, the holotype is a mix of ' ...
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Asperoris
''Asperoris'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile known from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of southwestern Tanzania. It is the first archosauriform known from the Manda Beds that is not an archosaur. However, its relationships with other non-archosaurian archosauriforms are uncertain. It was first named by Sterling J. Nesbitt, Richard J. Butler and David J. Gower in 2013 and the type species is ''Asperoris mnyama''. ''Asperoris'' means "rough face" in Latin, referring to the distinctive rough texture of its skull bones. Discovery ''Asperoris'' is known solely from the well-preserved but incomplete holotype skull NHMUK PV R36615, which includes the right premaxilla and maxilla bones of the upper jaw, the right nasal, prefrontal, frontal, postfrontal, and parietal bones of the top of the skull, and part of the right postorbital bone behind the eye socket, as well as three unidentified skull fragments. NHMUK PV R36615 was discovered by a joint 1963 expedition of the ...
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Protopyknosia
Protopyknosia is an extinct clade of archosauriform reptiles from the Late Triassic of India and the United States. First identified by Sterling Nesbitt ''et al.'' in 2021, the clade contains two genera: '' Kranosaura'' and ''Triopticus''. Members of Protopyknosia characteristically have an unusually domed head reminiscent of the later pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs in an example of convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com .... References Prehistoric archosauriforms Late Triassic extinctions Taxa named by Sankar Chatterjee Taxa named by Jack Horner Taxa named by Sterling Nesbitt Taxa named by Michelle R. Stocker {{Triassic-reptile-stub ...
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Wangisuchus
''Wangisuchus'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile from the Middle Triassic of China that is known from fragmentary fossil jaw bones. These bones were found at the Hsishihwa locality in the upper Ermaying Formation, which dates to the late Anisian stage about 242 million years ago. ''Wangisuchus'' was named in 1964 by Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian, who described a single species, ''Wangisuchus tzeyii'', on the basis of these bones. Classification Yang classified ''Wangisuchus'' in the family Euparkeriidae, which also includes the much better known ''Euparkeria'' from the Early Triassic of South Africa. He diagnosed ''Wangisuchus'' by the following characters: long and low shape of the maxilla; pointed posterior process of the maxilla; rounded anterior margin of the maxilla; thecodont tooth implantation; crurotarsal (crocodile-like) structure of the ankle. Later authors noted that a calcaneum, or ankle bone, referred to ''Wangisuchus'' by Yang more closely rese ...
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Vonhuenia
''Vonhuenia'' (named after Friedrich von Huene) is an extinct genus of basal archosauriform from the Early Triassic of Russia. Fossils have been found in the Vokhminskaya Formation, along the Vetluga River that are Induan in age, making ''Vonhuenia'' one of the earliest archosauriforms. Classification The type species ''V. friedrichi'', named in 1992, is based on material that was misassigned to the genus ''Chasmatosuchus'' by Ochev (1978). Although originally classified as a proterosuchid, a 2016 cladistic analysis recovered it as a non-eucrocopodan archosauriform of uncertain position.Ezcurra, M.D. (2016),The phylogenetic relationships of basal archosauromorphs, with an emphasis on the systematics of proterosuchian archosauriforms. PeerJ4:e1778;DOI10.7717/peerj.1778 Paleobiology ''Vonhuenia'' was a small archosauriform that lived alongside amphibians like '' Tupilakosaurus'' and '' Luzocephalus'', small reptiles like '' Phaanthosaurus'', and the large-bodied dicynodont Dicy ...
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Vjushkovisaurus
''Vjushkovisaurus'' is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic archosauriform. It is known from the Anisian-aged Donguz Gorizont in Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg Oblast, Russia. The genus was named in 1982, with the type species being ''V. berdjanensis''. Material has been collected in the Berdyanka II locality from a fossil assemblage called the ''Eryosuchus'' Fauna along the Berdyanka River, specifically in a sand-carbonate concretion in the upper part of the main river channel. ''Vjushkovisaurus'' is known only from the holotype PIN 2865/62 (formerly SGU 104/3871), a partial postcranial skeleton which consists of 12 presacral vertebrae, left humerus, ribs, a fragment of the coracoid and a fragment of the fibula. Description Most rauisuchids have a crest on the ilium called the supra-acetabular process that overlies the head of the femur, allowing them to have a "pillar-erect" stance. As an early rauisuchid ''Vjushkovisaurus'' lacks this crest, but it does have a small thickening on the ...
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Uatchitodon
''Uatchitodon'' is an extinct genus of Late Triassic reptile known only from isolated teeth. Based on the structure of the teeth, ''Uatchitodon'' was probably a carnivorous archosauromorph. Folded grooves on the teeth indicate that the animal was likely venomous, with the grooves being channels for salivary venom. The teeth are similar to those of living venomous squamates such as ''Heloderma'' and venomous snakes. ''Uatchitodon'' is the earliest known venomous reptile. Description and species The genus was first named with the description of the type species ''U. kroehleri'' by Hans-Dieter Sues in the journal ''Nature'' in 1991. ''U. kroehleri'' is known from several teeth found from the early middle Carnian Turkey Branch Formation of the Newark Supergroup in Virginia, uncovered from the Tomahawk locality. The teeth average around 10 mm in length. The tooth crown is strongly labiolingually compressed, recurved, and serrated along both the anterior and posterior edges. ...
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