''Archosaurus'' (meaning "ruling lizard") is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of carnivorous

proterosuchid 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" ...

archosauriform reptile. Its fossils are dated to the latest Permian of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, it is one of the earliest known archosauriforms. The type and only species is ''Archosaurus rossicus'', known from several fragmentary specimens which cumulatively represent parts of the skull and cervical vertebrae.Paleont. Zh. 1960 (4) It would have been long when fully grown. When first described in 1960, ''Archosaurus'' was considered the oldest known archosaur and a close relative of ''

Proterosuchus ''Proterosuchus'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptiles that lived during the Early Triassic. It contains three valid species: the type species ''P. fergusi'' and the referred species ''P. alexanderi'' and ''P. goweri''. All three spec ...

'' from the Early Triassic.Tatarinov, L. P. (1960). ''Otkrytie pseudozhukhii v verkhnei permi SSSR: Paleontologischeskii Zhurnal'', 1960, n. 4, p. 74-80. However, Archosauria in modern terms is considered a more restricted group which ''Archosaurus'' lies outside of. The "classic" definition of archosaur utilized prior to the widespread use of

cladistics Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived cha ...

is now roughly equivalent to the clade Archosauriformes.Gauthier J. A. (1994): ''The diversification of the amniotes''. In: D. R. Prothero and R. M. Schoch (ed.) Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution: 129-159. Knoxville, Tennessee: The Paleontological Society. ''Archosaurus'' is still considered the oldest undisputed archosauriform, as well as one of the few valid members of the family

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" ...

Gallery

File:Archosaurus rossicus.png, PIN 1100/55, the holotype left premaxilla File:Archosaurus_ross1DB.jpg, Restoration File:Archosaurus Scale.svg, Size comparison

References

Fossils of Poland Permian Russia Permian reptiles of Europe Prehistoric archosauriforms Fossil taxa described in 1960 Prehistoric reptile genera {{Permian-reptile-stub

Gallery

See also

References