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Rauisuchidae
Rauisuchidae is a group of large (up to or more) predatory Triassic archosaurs. There is some disagreement over which genera should be included in Rauisuchidae and which should be in the related Prestosuchidae and Poposauridae, and indeed whether these should even be thought of as separate valid families. Rauisuchids occurred throughout much of the Triassic, and may have first occurred in the Early Triassic if some archosaurian taxa such as ''Scythosuchus'' and ''Tsylmosuchus'' are considered to be within the family. An early cladistic analysis of crocodylotarsan (pseudosuchian) archosaurs included ''Lotosaurus ''Lotosaurus'' is an extinct genus of sail-backed poposauroid Poposauroidea is a clade of advanced pseudosuchians (archosaurs closer to crocodilians than to dinosaurs). It includes poposaurids, shuvosaurids, ctenosauriscids, and other unusual ...'', ''Fasolasuchus'', ''Rauisuchus'', and "the Kupferzell rauisuchid" (later called ''Batrachotomus'') within Rauisuchidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vivaron
''Vivaron'' is a genus of rauisuchid known from the Late Triassic (middle Norian) Chinle Formation in New Mexico. It is the second rauisuchid known from the southwestern United States, and it highlights the wide biogeographic range similar rauisuchid taxa occupied during the Late Triassic across Pangaea, despite the varied faunal assemblages at different latitudes. Discovery ''Vivaron'' was named in 2016 from material collected at the Hayden Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico in 2009. The locality is part of the Chinle Formation in the Petrified Forest Member, and dates to the middle Norian ~212 Ma, possibly representing one of the youngest known rauisuchids. Prior to its description, all Late Triassic rauisuchid material from Texas, Arizona and New Mexico had been referred to ''Postosuchus kirkpatricki''. However, the rauisuchid remains from Hayden Quarry could be clearly distinguished from ''Postosuchus'', and was erected as a new taxon ''Vivaron haydeni''. The generic epith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudosuchia
Pseudosuchia is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Pseudosuchians are also informally known as "crocodilian-line archosaurs". Prior to 2011, the clade Pseudosuchia was often called Crurotarsi in reference to the crurotarsal ankle found in almost all members of the group, which traditionally included phytosaurs, ornithosuchids, and suchians. However, a major 2011 study of Triassic archosaur relations proposed that phytosaurs were not closely related to other traditional "crurotarsans", at least compared to "bird-line archosaurs" (Avemetatarsalians) such as pterosaurs and dinosaurs. As a result, the possession of a crurotarsal ankle was considered a plesiomorphic ("primitive") feature retained by pseudosuchians. Crurotarsi now refers to a broader group of reptiles including Pseudosuchia, Phytosauria, and Avemetatarsalia. Despite Pseudosuchia meaning "false crocodiles", th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prestosuchidae
Prestosuchidae (in its widest usage) is a polyphyletic grouping of carnivorous archosaurs that lived during the Triassic. They were large active terrestrial apex predators, ranging from around in length. They succeeded the Erythrosuchidae as the largest archosaurs of their time. While resembling erythrosuchids in size and some features of the skull and skeleton, they were more advanced in their erect posture and crocodile-like ankle, indicating more efficient gait. "Prestosuchids" flourished throughout the whole of the middle, and the early part of the late Triassic, and fossils are so far known from Europe, India, Africa (Tanzania), Argentina, and Paleorrota in Brazil. However, for a long time experts disagree regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the group, what genera should be included, and whether indeed the "Prestosuchidae" constitute a distinct family. In 2011, Prestosuchidae in its broadest definition was determined to be a poorly-diagnosed and obsolete polyphyleti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batrachotomus
''Batrachotomus'' is a genus of prehistoric archosaur. Fossils of this animal have been found in southern Germany and dated from the Ladinian stage of the Middle Triassic period, around 242 to 237 million years ago. ''Batrachotomus'' was described by palaeontologist David J. Gower 22 years after its discovery. The locality where ''Batrachotomus'' lived was a swampy region and the name comes from the Greek ''batrachos/βάτραχος'' (frog) and ''tome/τομή'' (cutting, slicing), which refers to its preying on the large amphibian ''Mastodonsaurus''.Gower (1999), p. 6. In contrast with sprawling reptiles, like crocodiles, this large carnivore was very agile with locomotor superiority due to its erect stance. A remarkable feature seen on its back was a row of paired, flattened bony plates. ''Batrachotomus'' was possibly an early relative of ''Postosuchus'',Gower (1999), p. 1. which lived during the dawn of the dinosaurs. Description ''Batrachotomus'' was a heavily built, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rauisuchus
''Rauisuchus'' (meaning "Wilhelm Rau's crocodile") is a genus of extinct archosaurs which lived in what is now the Geopark of Paleorrota (Santa María Formation), Brazil, during the Late Triassic period (235–228 million years ago). It contains one species, ''R. tiradentes''.''Rauisuchus'' at Fossilworks.orgF. v. Huene. (1942) ''Die fossilen Reptilien des südamerikanischen Gondwanalandes. Ergebnisse der Sauriergrabung in Südbrasilien 1928/29.'' München: C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung Discovery and naming In 1928 or 1929, near the road from Sa ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procerosuchus
''Procerosuchus'' is an extinct genus of loricatan archosaur. Fossils have been collected from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation in Geopark of Paleorrota, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which is Carnian in age. The genus was first described by the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1942. Classification Initially, ''Procerosuchus'' was regarded as a stagonolepidid along with the genera '' Rauisuchus'' and ''Prestosuchus''. Later, it was reassigned by Huene to the family Rauisuchidae. Alfred Sherwood Romer first considered ''Procerosuchus'' to be a possible ornithosuchid, but later assigned it to the family Prestosuchidae, which he constructed in 1966. In 1972, Romer assigned ''Procerosuchus'' as a possible member of the family Proterochampsidae. Krebs (1976) considered it to be a rauisuchid, as did Chatterjee (1985) and Carroll (1988). ''Procerosuchus'' has been suggested to be member of the subfamily Rauisuchinae and the tribe Rauisuchini. However, the genus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era. Both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. The Triassic Period is subdivided into three epochs: Early Triassic, Middle Triassic and Late Triassic. The Triassic began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, which left the Earth's biosphere impoverished; it was well into the middle of the Triassic before life recovered its former diversity. Three categories of organisms can be distinguished in the Triassic record: survivors from the extinction event, new groups that flourished briefly, and other new groups that went on to dominate the Mesozoic Era. Reptiles, especially archosaurs, were the chief terrestrial vertebrates during this time. A specialized subgroup of archo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archosaur
Archosauria () is a clade of diapsids, with birds and crocodilians as the only living representatives. Archosaurs are broadly classified as reptiles, in the cladistic sense of the term which includes birds. Extinct archosaurs include non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and extinct relatives of crocodilians. Modern paleontologists define Archosauria as a crown group that includes the most recent common ancestor of living birds and crocodilians, and all of its descendants. The base of Archosauria splits into two clades: Pseudosuchia, which includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives, and Avemetatarsalia, which includes birds and their extinct relatives (such as non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs). Older definitions of the group Archosauria rely on shared morphological characteristics, such as an antorbital fenestra in the skull, serrated teeth, and an upright stance. Some extinct reptiles, such as proterosuchids and euparkeriids, possessed these features yet originated pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsylmosuchus
''Tsylmosuchus'' is an extinct genus of potentially dubious ctenosauriscid archosauriform reptile known from Western Russia. Fossils referred to ''Tsylmosuchus'' occurred over a wide area in sediments corresponding to the Induan and Olenekian stages of the Early Triassic. Most of these fossils are fragmentary neck vertebrae which were originally reported as sharing similarities with crocodile-line archosaurs (pseudosuchians) such as ''Mandasuchus''. As a result, ''Tsylmosuchus'' was first described as part of the family Rauisuchidae, making it supposedly one of the oldest known archosaurs. However, its fragmentary remains do not show any of the distinguishing features of rauisuchids or even pseudosuchians in general, so ''Tsylmosuchus'' has more recently been interpreted as an indeterminate archosauriform. Although three species of ''Tsylmosuchus'' have been named, they lack diagnostic traits and are probably not distinct from each other. Discovery The genus is named after th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poposauridae
Poposauridae is a family of large carnivorous archosaurs which lived alongside dinosaurs during the Late Triassic. They were around long. Poposaurids are known from fossil remains from North and South America. While originally believed to be theropod dinosaurs (they mirrored the theropods in a number of respects, such as features of the skull and bipedal locomotion), cladistic analysis has shown them to be more closely related to crocodiles. An early cladistic analysis of crocodylotarsan archosaurs included ''Poposaurus'', ''Postosuchus'', ''Teratosaurus'', and ''Bromsgroveia'' within Poposauridae.Parrish JM. 1993. Phylogeny of the Crocodylotarsi, with reference to archosaurian and crurotarsan monophyly. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 13: 287-308. However, later studies found ''Teratosaurus'' to be a rauisuchid.Long RA, Murry PA. 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the Southwestern United States. ''New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vytshegdosuchus
''Vytshegdosuchus'' is an extinct genus of paracrocodylomorph archosaur known from the Early Triassic (latest Olenekian stage) Yarenskian Gorizont of the Komi Republic of the European section of Russia. It contains a single species, ''Vytshegdosuchus zheshartensis''. ''Vytshegdosuchus'' was named by Andreii Sennikov in 1988. Discovery ''Vytshegdosuchus'' is known from the holotype PIN 3361/134, a right ilium, and possibly from the paratype PIN 3361/127, a partial femur. These specimens were collected from the a fossil assemblage called the ''Parotosuchus'' fauna of the Upper Yarenskian Gorizont, in the Zheshart locality along the Vychegda River in Aikino district of the Komi Republic. A pterygoid and postcranial material from the Gam locality, a cervical vertebra (PIN 3369/139) from another locality and postcrania from the Mezhog locality were also assigned to ''Vytshegdosuchus'' by Sennikov (1999). Nesbitt (2009) argued that the specimens referred to ''Vytshegd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postosuchus
''Postosuchus'', meaning "Crocodile from Post", is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, ''P. kirkpatricki'' and ''P. alisonae'', that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. ''Postosuchus'' is a member of the clade Pseudosuchia, the lineage of archosaurs that includes modern crocodilians (the other main group of archosaurs is Avemetatarsalia, the lineage that includes non-avian dinosaurs and their descendants, birds). Its name refers to Post Quarry, a place in Texas where many fossils of the type species, ''P. kirkpatricki'', were found. It was one of the apex predators of its area during the Triassic, larger than the small dinosaur predators of its time (such as ''Coelophysis''). It was a hunter which probably preyed on large bulky herbivores like dicynodonts and many other creatures smaller than itself (such as early dinosaurs). The skeleton of ''Postosuchus'' is large and robust with a deep skull and a long tail. It was a large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
