Archosauria

Modern classification

Archosauria is normally defined as a crown group, which means that it only includes descendants of the last common ancestors of its living representatives. In the case of archosaurs, these are birds and crocodilians. Archosauria is within the larger clade Archosauriformes, which includes some close relatives of archosaurs, such as proterochampsids and euparkeriids. These relatives are often referred to as archosaurs despite being placed outside of the crown group Archosauria in a more basal position within Archosauriformes. Historically, many archosauriforms were described as archosaurs, including proterosuchids and erythrosuchids, based on the presence of an antorbital fenestra. While many researchers prefer to treat Archosauria as an unranked clade, some continue to assign it a traditional biological rank. Traditionally, Archosauria has been treated as a Superorder, though a few 21st century researchers have assigned it to different ranks including Division and Class.