Metasuchia

Reconstruction of Araripesuchus wegeneri, by Todd Marshall.

Belongs within: Crocodyliformes.
Contains: Neosuchia.

The Metasuchia were defined by Sereno et al. (2001) as the most exclusive clade containing both recent crocodilians and Notosuchus. This differs somewhat from its original usage by Benton & Clark (1988) for all members of the clade Mesoeucrocodylia excluding Thalattosuchia, which have subsequently been classified as derived metasuchians.

The Notosuchia are a group of often small, terrestrial crocodyliforms known from the Cretaceous of Africa and South America. Many notosuchians were markedly heterodont, with the rear teeth become multicusped and/or molariform (O'Connor et al. 2010). The Peirosauridae have been recognised as a group of moderately high-snouted crocodyliforms from the same time and area; it is possible that this group is paraphyletic to the later neosuchians (O'Connor et al. 2010).

<==Metasuchia (see below for synonymy)
    |  i. s.: Brasileosaurus pachecoi Huene 1931 CRA04
    |         Elosuchidae LB02
    |           |--Stolokrosuchus Larsson & Gado 2000 LB02
    |           |    `--S. lapparenti Larsson & Gado 2000 LB02
    |           `--Elosuchus de Lapparent de Broin 2002 LB02
    |                |--*E. cherifiensis (Lavocat 1955) (see below for synonymy) LB02
    |                `--E. felixi de Lapparent de Broin 2002 LB02
    |--Peirosauridae [Lomasuchinae] CRA04
    |    |--+--Peirosaurus tormini Price 1955 OS10, CRA04
    |    |  `--Lomasuchus Gasparini, Chiappe & Fernandez 1991 OS10, CRA04
    |    |       `--L. palpebrosus Gasparini, Chiappe & Fernandez 1991 CRA04
    |    `--+--+--Anatosuchus minor OS10
    |       |  `--Neosuchia OS10
    |       `--Mahajangasuchini CRA04
    |            |--Mahajangasuchus insignis OS10
    |            `--Uberabasuchus Carvalho, Ribeiro & Avilla 2004 CRA04
    |                 `--*U. terrificus Carvalho, Ribeiro & Avilla 2004 CRA04
    `--+--Araripesuchus Price 1959 OS10, SF03
       |    |--A. wegeneri OS10
       |    `--+--A. buitreraensis OS10
       |       `--+--A. gomesii Price 1959 OS10, CRA04
       |          `--A. patagonicus Ortega et al. 2001 GPS06, LB02
       `--Notosuchia OS10
            |--Uruguaysuchus [Uruguaysuchidae] OS10
            |    `--U. aznarezi GPS06
            `--Ziphosuchia [Baurusuchoidea, Sebecosuchia] CRA04
                 |  i. s.: Bergisuchus Kuhn 1968 [Bergisuchidae] RRO00
                 |           `--*B. dietrichbergi Kuhn 1968 RRO00
                 |         Ilchunaia parca Rusconi 1946 RRO00
                 |         Cynodontosuchus rothi Woodward 1896 RRO00
                 |         Ayllusuchus fernandezi Gasparini 1984 RRO00
                 |--+--Sebecidae CRA04
                 |  |    |--Sebecus LB02
                 |  |    |    |--S. huilensis RRO00
                 |  |    |    |--S. icaeorhinus RRO00
                 |  |    |    `--S. querejazus Buffetaut & Marshall 1991 LB02
                 |  |    `--Libycosuchus Stromer 1914 OS10, SF03 [Libycosuchidae]
                 |  |         `--L. brevirostris GPS06
                 |  `--Candidodontidae CRA04
                 |       |--+--Mariliasuchus amarali Carvalho & Bertini 1999 OS10, CRA04
                 |       |  `--+--Adamantinasuchus navae OS10
                 |       |     `--Pakasuchus O’Connor, Sertich et al. 2010 OS10
                 |       |          `--*P. kapilimai O’Connor, Sertich et al. 2010 OS10
                 |       `--+--Candidodon itapecuruense OS10
                 |          `--Itasuchidae CRA04
                 |               |--Malawisuchus mwakasyungutiensis OS10
                 |               `--Itasuchus CRA04
                 |                    |--I. camposi SF03 [=Cairisuchus camposi RRO00]
                 |                    `--I. jesuinoi Price 1955 CRA04
                 `--Chimaerasuchidae CRA04
                      |--Simosuchus Buckley 2000 OS10, D07
                      |    `--S. clarki OS10
                      `--+--Notosuchus Woodward 1896 OS10, SF03 [Notosuchidae]
                         |    `--N. terrestris OS10
                         `--+--+--Chimaeresuchus Wu & Suess 1995 OS10, D07
                            |  |    `--C. paradoxus GPS06
                            |  `--Sphagesaurus Price 1950 OS10, D07
                            |       `--S. huenei Price 1950 CRA04
                            `--+--Comahuesuchus brachybuccalis OS10, GPS06
                               `--+--+--Bretesuchus [Bretesuchidae] GPS06
                                  |  |    `--B. bonapartei Gasparini et al. 1993 RRO00
                                  |  `--Iberosuchus macrodon GPS06
                                  `--Baurusuchidae CRA04
                                       |--Stratiosuchus maxhechti (Campos et al. 2001) CRA04
                                       `--Baurusuchus Prince 1945 OS10, D07
                                            `--B. pachecoi Price 1945 CRA04

Elosuchus cherifiensis (Lavocat 1955) [=Thoracosaurus cherifiensis, Thoracosuchus (l. c.) cherifiensis, Eleiosuchus africanus ms] LB02

Metasuchia [Gondwanasuchia, Notosuchiformes, Notosuchimorpha, Peirosauriformes, Peirosaurimorpha, Peirosauroidea, Terriasuchia]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

Benton, M. J., & J. M. Clark. 1988. Archosaur phylogeny and the relationships of the Crocodylia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds pp. 295–338. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[CRA04] Carvalho, I. de S., L. C. B. Ribeiro & L. dos S. Avilla. 2004. Uberabasuchus terrificus sp. nov., a new Crocodylomorpha from the Bauru Basin (Upper Cretaceous), Brazil. Gondwana Research 7 (4): 975–1002.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[GPS06] Gasparini, Z., D. Pol & L. A. Spalletti. 2006. An unusual marine crocodyliform from the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary of Patagonia. Science 311: 70–73.

[LB02] Lapparent de Broin, F. de. 2002. Elosuchus, a new genus of crocodile from the Lower Cretaceous of the north of Africa. Comptes Rendus Palevol 1: 275–285.

[OS10] O'Connor, P. M., J. J. W. Sertich, N. J. Stevens, E. M. Roberts, M. D. Gottfried, T. L. Hieronymus, Z. A. Jinnah, R. Ridgely, S. E. Ngasala & J. Temba. 2010. The evolution of mammal-like crocodyliforms in the Cretaceous period of Gondwana. Nature 466: 748–751.

[RRO00] Rossmann, T., M. Rauhe & F. Ortega. 2000. Studies on Cenozoic crocodiles: 8. Bergisuchus dietrichbergi Kuhn (Sebecosuchia: Bergisuchidae n. fam.) from the Middle Eocene of Germany, some new systematic and biological conclusions. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 74: 379–392.

[SF03] Salisbury, S. W., E. Frey, D. M. Martill & M. C. Buchy. 2003. A new crocodilian from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of north-eastern Brazil. Palaeontographica Abteilung A: Paläozoologie—Stratigraphie 270: 3–47.

Sereno, P. C., H. C. E. Larsson, C. A. Sidor & B. Gado. 2001. The giant crocodyliform Sarcosuchus from the Cretaceous of Africa. Science 294: 1516–1519.

Last updated: 3 August 2017.