Pseudosuchia

Mounted skeleton of Postosuchus at Museum of Texas Tech University, copyrigh Dallas Krentzel.

Belongs within: Archosauriformes.
Contains: Stagonolepidae, Crocodylomorpha.

The Pseudosuchia are a clade of reptiles including the crocodilians and a number of related fossil taxa once classified as 'thecodontians' such as the aetosaurs, ornithosuchids and 'rauisuchians'. Higher relationships within the clade have differed between analyses though most recent authors have agreed that the 'rauisuchians' (Rauisuchidae, Prestosuchidae and Poposauridae) do not form a single clade. Indeed, an analysis of the archosauriforms by Nesbitt et al. (2017) did not even recover monophyly for the individual rauisuchian families.

Synapomorphies (from Benton & Clark 1988): Septomaxilla absent; lower temporal fenestra reduced in size, triangular with a dorsal point, quadratojugal sloping forward towards postorbital; axial diapophysis reduced or absent; pubo-ischiadic plate absent, pubis and ischium long and narrow, pubis expanding distally into broad forward-facing plate; long distal process of pubis bent down into subvertical orientation; pubis longer than ischium; proximal head of femur turned inwards at about 45°; fully developed crocodile-normal tarsus, capable of rotation of 60–70°; digit V in foot reduced in length, shorter than digit I.

<==Pseudosuchia (see below for synonymy) NS09
    |--Nundasuchus songeaensis NB17
    `--+--Ornithosuchidae B04
       |    |--Venaticosuchus B04
       |    |--Parringtonia gracilis R72, NB17
       |    |--Dyoplax R72
       |    |--Riojasuchus Bonaparte 1969 IN07, R72
       |    |    `--R. tenuisceps IN07
       |    `--Ornithosuchus Newton 1894 NB17, GQ01 [incl. Dasygnathoides R72]
       |         |--*O. longidens (Huxley 1877) [=Dasygnathus longidens; incl. O. woodwardi Newton 1894] GQ01
       |         `--O. rusconii P88
       `--+--+--Stagonolepidae NB17
          |  `--Revueltosaurus Hunt 1989 NS09, PI05
          |       |--R. callenderi Hunt 1989 PI05
          |       `--R. hunti Heckert 2002 PI05
          `--+--Kollamasuchus gonzalezdiazi NB17
             `--+--+--Turfanosuchus dabanensis NB17
                |  `--+--Yonghesuchus sangbiensis NB17
                |     `--Gracilisuchus Romer 1972 NB17, D07
                |          `--G. stipanicicorum GPS06
                `--+--Ticinosuchus Krebs 1965 NB17, D07 (see below for synonymy)
                   |    `--T. ferox Krebs 1965 G00
                   `--+--+--Qianosuchus mixtus NB17
                      |  `--+--+--Arizonasaurus Welles 1947 NB17, G00
                      |     |  |    `--A. babbitti NS09
                      |     |  `--Xilousuchus sapingensis NB17
                      |     `--+--Poposaurus gracilis Mehl 1915 NB17, G00
                      |        `--+--Lotosaurus Zhang 1975 NB17, D07
                      |           |    `--L. adentus Zhang 1975 G00
                      |           `--+--Sillosuchus longicervix Alcober & Parrish 1997 NB17, G00
                      |              `--+--Shuvosaurus Chatterjee 1993 NB17, D07
                      |                 |    `--S. inexpectatus G00
                      |                 `--Effigia okeeffeae NB17
                      `--+--Prestosuchus chiniquensis Huene 1942 NB17, G00 [incl. P. loricatus Huene 1942 G00]
                         `--+--Saurosuchus Reig 1959 NB17, D07
                            |    `--S. galilei Reig 1959 G00
                            `--+--Batrachotomus kupferzellensis Gower 1999 NB17, G00
                               `--+--Fasolasuchus tenax Bonaparte 1978 NB17, G00
                                  `--+--+--Rauisuchus tiradentes Huene 1942 NB17, G00
                                     |  `--+--Postosuchus NB17
                                     |     |    |--P. alisonae NB17
                                     |     |    `--P. kirkpatricki Chatterjee 1985 G00
                                     |     `--Polonosuchus silesiacus NB17
                                     `--+--Trialestes BC88
                                        |--Erpetosuchus Newton 1894 CX04, D07 [=Herpetosuchus R72]
                                        |    `--E. granti D07
                                        `--Crocodylomorpha NB17

Pseudosuchia incertae sedis:
  Belodon C77
  Strigosuchus R72
  Wangisuchus Young 1974 G00
    `--W. tzeyii G00
  Vytshegdosuchus zheshartensis Sennikov 1988 G00
  Energosuchus garjainovi Ochev 1986 G00
  Dongusia Huene 1940 G00
  Pallisteria R72
  Tsylmosuchus G00
    |--T. donensis Sennikov 1990 G00
    |--T. jakovlevi Sennikov 1990 G00
    `--T. samariensis Sennikov 1990 G00
  Episcoposaurus G00
  Dolichobrachium G00
  Chirotherium G00
  Vjushkovisaurini G00
    |--Vjushkovisaurus berdjanensis Ochev 1982 G00
    |--Jaikosuchus magnus Sennikov 1990 G00
    |--Jushatyria vjushkovi Sennikov in Kalandadze & Sennikov 1985 G00
    `--Youngosuchus Sennikov in Kalandadze & Sennikov 1985 G00
         `--*Y. sinensis (Young 1973) [=Vjushkovia sinensis] G00
  Stagonosuchus nyassicus Huene 1938 G00
  Zanclodon Plieninger 1846 G00
  Tikisuchus romeri Chatterjee & Majumdar 1987 G00
  Luperosuchus fractus Romer 1971 G00
  Hoplitosuchus raui Huene 1942 G00
  Procerosuchus Huene 1944 G00, R72
    `--P. celer Huene 1942 G00
  Heptasuchus clarki Dawley, Zawiskie & Cosgriff 1979 G00
  Lythrosuchus langstoni Long & Murray 1995 G00
  Bromsgroveia walkeri Galton 1985 G00
  Teratosaurus suevicus v. Meyer 1861 G00
  Chatterjeea [Chatterjeeidae] G00
    `--C. elegans Long & Murray 1995 G00

Nomen nudum: Mandasuchus tanyauchen Charig in Appleby et al. 1967 G00

Pseudosuchia [Crocodylotarsi, Crurotarsi, Dromaeosuchia, Poposauridae, Prestosuchidae, Procrocodylomorpha, Rauisuchia, Rauisuchidae, Rauisuchiformes, Rauisuchinae, Rauisuchini, Suchia] NS09

Ticinosuchus Krebs 1965 NB17, D07 [incl. Mandasuchus Charig in Appleby et al. 1967 (n. n.) G00; Ticinosuchinae]

*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.

[BC88] 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.

[CX04] Clark, J. M., X. Xu, C. A. Forster & Y. Wang. 2004. A Middle Jurassic ‘sphenosuchian’ from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull. Nature 430: 1021–1024.

[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.

[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.

[GQ01] Gauthier, J., & K. de Queiroz. 2001. Feathered dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, crown dinosaurs, and the name "Aves". In: Gauthier, J., & L. F. Gall (eds) New Perspectives on the Origin and Early Evolution of Birds: Proceedings of the International Symposium in Honor of John H. Ostrom pp. 7–41. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University: New Haven.

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

[IN07] Irmis, R. B., S. J. Nesbitt, K. Padian, N. D. Smith, A. H. Turner, D. Woody & A. Downs. 2007. A Late Triassic dinosauromorph assemblage from New Mexico and the rise of dinosaurs. Science 317: 358–361.

[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.

[NS09] Nesbitt, S. J., N. D. Smith, R. B. Irmis, A. H. Turner, A. Downs & M. A. Norell. 2009. A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Science 326: 1530–1533.

[PI05] Parker, W. G., R. B. Irmis, S. J. Nesbitt, J. W. Martz & L. S. Browne. 2005. The Late Triassic pseudosuchian Revueltosaurus callenderi and its implications for the diversity of early ornithischian dinosaurs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B—Biological Sciences 272: 963–969.

[P88] Paul, G. S. 1988. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide. Simon & Schuster: New York.

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