Archosauriformes

Reconstruction of Proterosuchus fergusi, copyright Nobu Tamura.

Belongs within: Archosauromorpha.
Contains: Pseudosuchia, Ornithodira, Parasuchia.

The Archosauriformes are a clade of reptiles united by the presence of an antorbital fenestra in the skull (Benton 2004). This clade has been referred to in the past as the Archosauria but that name is used by most current authors to refer to the restricted crown clade including the birds and crocodiles. The Archosauria sensu stricto also include the extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs. The two basal lineages within the archosaurs, the Pseudosuchia and Avemetatarsalia, have been distinguished in the past by the conformation of the ankle bones; however, the basal avemetatarsalian (stem-bird) Teleocrater rhadinus retains a plesiomorphic 'crocodile-normal' ankle (Nesbitt et al. 2017).

Synapomorphies (from Benton 2004): Antorbital fenestra present; postfrontal reduced to less than half dimensions of postorbital or absent; ossified laterosphenoid present; prootic midline contact on endocranial cavity floor; teeth with serrated margins; lateral mandibular fenestra present.

<==Archosauriformes [Erythrosuchia, Euparkeriidae, Proterosuchia, Thecodontia]
    |  i. s.: Seemannia R72
    |         Crenelosaurus R72
    |         Ocoyuntaia Rusconi 1947 R72
    |         Clarencea R72
    |         Ctenosauriscus koeneni R72, FB17
    |         Hypselorhachis mirabilis R72, NB17
    |         Arcticodactylus cromptonellus NB17
    |         Diandongosuchus fuyuanensis NB17
    |--Proterosuchidae B04
    |    |--Proterosuchus [incl. Ankistrodon, Chasmatosaurus Haughton 1924, Epicampodon] R72
    |    |    |--P. fergusi NB17
    |    |    `--+--P. alexanderi NB17
    |    |       `--+--P. goweri NB17
    |    |          `--‘Chasmatosaurus’ yuani NB17
    |    |--Elaphrosuchus R72
    |    |--Chasmatosuchus R72
    |    `--Archosaurus rossicus R72, NB17
    `--Erythrosuchidae J94
         |--Fugusuchus hejipanensis NB17
         `--+--Sarmatosuchus otschevi NB17
            `--+--Cuyosuchus Rieg 1961 NB17, R72
               |    `--C. huenei NB17
               `--+--+--Guchengosuchus shigualensis NB17
                  |  `--+--+--Erythrosuchus Broom 1905 NB17, D07
                  |     |  |    `--E. africanus B04
                  |     |  `--+--Chalishevia cothurnata NB17
                  |     |     `--Shansisuchus NB17
                  |     |          |--*S. shansisuchus [incl. Fenhosuchus cristatus Young 1964] G00
                  |     |          `--S. heiyuekouensis G00
                  |     `--Garjainia Ochev 1958 NB17, G00 [incl. Vjushkovia Huene 1960 G00]
                  |          |--*G. prima Ochev 1958 [incl. Vjushkovia triplicostata Huene 1960] G00
                  |          `--G. madiba NB17
                  `--+--Dorosuchus neoetus NB17
                     |--Asperoris mnyama NB17
                     `--+--Euparkeria Broom 1913 NB17, D07 [incl. Browniella R72]
                        |    `--E. capensis B04
                        `--+--+--+--Vancleavea campi NB17
                           |  |  `--+--+--Doswellia Weems 1980 J94, D07
                           |  |     |  |    `--D. kaltenbachi D07
                           |  |     |  `--Jaxtasuchus salomoni NB17
                           |  |     `--+--Tarjadia ruthae NB17
                           |  |        `--Archeopelta arborensis NB17
                           |  `--Proterochampsidae J94
                           |       |--Proterochampsa NB17
                           |       |    |--P. barrionuevoi B04
                           |       |    `--P. nodosa NB17
                           |       `--+--Cerritosaurus binsfeldi NB17
                           |          `--+--Tropidosuchus romeri NB17
                           |             `--+--Pseudochampsa ischigualastensis NB17
                           |                `--+--Gualosuchus reigi NB17
                           |                   `--+--Chanaresuchus bonapartei NB17
                           |                      `--Rhadinosuchus Huene 1944 NB17, R72
                           |                           `--R. gracilis NB17
                           `--+--Archosauria [Avesuchia, Ornithosuchia] NB17
                              |    |--Pseudosuchia NS10
                              |    `--Avemetatarsalia [Ornithosuchia, Ornithotarsi, Panaves] NB17
                              |         |--Aphanosauria NB17
                              |         |    |--Spondylosoma Huene 1942 NB17, L04
                              |         |    |    `--S. absconditum Huene 1942 L04
                              |         |    `--+--Teleocrater Nesbitt, Butler et al. 2017 [Aphanosauria] NB17
                              |         |       |    `--*T. rhadinus Nesbitt, Butler et al. 2017 NB17
                              |         |       |--Dongusuchus efremovi Sennikov 1988 NB17, G00
                              |         |       `--Yarasuchus deccanensis Sen 2005 NB17
                              |         `--Ornithodira NB17
                              `--Parasuchia NB17

Inorganic: Chasmatosaurus minilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B04] Benton, M. J. 2004. Origin and relationships of Dinosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 7–19. University of California Press: Berkeley.

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

[FB17] Feng, Y.-J., D. C. Blackburn, D. Liang, D. M. Hillis, D. B. Wake, D. C. Cannatella & P. Zhang. 2017. Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114 (29): E5864–E5870.

[G00] Gower, D. J. 2000. Rauisuchian archosaurs (Reptilia, Diapsida): an overview. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie—Abhandlungen 218 (3): 447–488.

[J94] Juul, L. 1994. The phylogeny of basal archosaurs. Palaeontologia Africana 31: 1–38.

[L04] Langer, M. C. 2004. Basal Saurischia. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 25–46. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[NB17] Nesbitt, S. J., R. J. Butler, M. D. Ezcurra, P. M. Barrett, M. R. Stocker, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith, C. A. Sidor, G. Niedźwiedzki, A. G. Sennikov & A. J. Charig. 2017. The earliest bird-line archosaurs and the assembly of the dinosaur body plan. Nature 544: 484–487.

[NS10] Nesbitt, S. J., C. A. Sidor, R. B. Irmis, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith & L. A. Tsuji. 2010. Ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister group shows early diversification of Ornithodira. Nature 464: 95–98.

[O87] Okamura, C. 1987. New facts: Homo and all Vertebrata were born simultaneously in the former Paleozoic in Japan. Original Report of the Okamura Fossil Laboratory 15: 347–573.

[R72] Romer, A. S. 1972. The Chañares (Argentina) Triassic reptile fauna. XVI. Thecodont classification. Breviora 395: 1–24.