| Protosuchians Fossil range: Late Triassic - Late Cretaceous | |
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 Protosuchus | |
| Scientific classification
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Protosuchia |
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Protosuchians are early crocodilians that were small in size (~1 meter in length) and terrestrial.
Protosuchian genera[]
Recent phylogenetic analyses have not supported Protosuchia as a natural group. However, two studies found a clade of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic animals:[1][2]
Both of these studies also found a clade more closely related to Hsisosuchus and Mesoeucrocodylia consisting of Late Jurassic-Late Cretaceous genera:[1][2]
- Zosuchus
- Sichuanosuchus
- Shantungosuchus
- Neuquensuchus
However, other possible protosuchians from the Late Cretaceous of China-Mongolia, the Gobiosuchidae (Gobiosuchus and Zaraasuchus), have been found to either intermediate between these two clades,[1] or members of the or the Sichuanosuchus-clade.[2]
References[]
- ^ a b c Pol D, Ji S-a, Clark JM, Chiappe LM. 2004. Basal crocodyliforms from the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group (Xinjiang, China), and the phylogenetic position of Edentosuchus. Cretaceous Research 25: 603-622.
- ^ a b c Fiorelli LE, Calvo JO. 2007. The first "protosuchian" (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes) from the Cretaceous (Santonian) of Gondwana. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro 65 (4): 417-459.
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