Chroniosuchia

Chroniosuchia
Temporal range: Middle Permian–Upper Triassic
Suchonica
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Reptiliomorpha (?)
Order: †Chroniosuchia
Kuhn, 1970
Subgroups

See text.

Synonyms
  • Chroniosuchida Tatarinov, 1972

Chroniosuchia is a group of tetrapods that lived from the Middle Permian to Late Triassic in what is now Eastern Europe, Kyrgyzstan,[1] China and Germany.[2] Chroniosuchians are often thought to be reptiliomorphs,[3] but some recent phylogenetic analyses suggest instead that they are stem-tetrapods.[4] They were all rather short limbed with a strong tail and elongated snout, somewhat resembling modern crocodiles. The group is traditionally considered to be a suborder or order of labyrinthodonts. Chroniosuchians likely had ecological niches as riverside predators, and may have been outcompeted by semiaquatic true reptiles such as phytosaurs in the late Triassic. Most forms bore a heavy armour of scutes along the back, possibly for protection against land born predators like therapsids, or to strengthen the axial skeleton for terrestrial locomotion. Indeed, femoral microanatomy of Chroniosaurus suggests that it was amphibious to terrestrial.[5]

  1. ^ Rainer R. Schoch; Sebastian Voigt; Michael Buchwitz (2010). "A chroniosuchid from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan and analysis of chroniosuchian relationships". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 160 (3): 515–530. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00613.x.
  2. ^ Florian Witzmann; Rainer R. Schoch; Michael W. Maisch (2008). "A relict basal tetrapod from Germany: first evidence of a Triassic chroniosuchian outside Russia" (PDF). Naturwissenschaften. 95 (1): 67–72. Bibcode:2008NW.....95...67W. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0291-6. PMID 17653527. S2CID 8161364.
  3. ^ Michael Buchwitz; Christian Foth; Ilja Kogan; Sebastian Voigt (2012). "On the use of osteoderm features in a phylogenetic approach on the internal relationships of the Chroniosuchia (Tetrapoda: Reptiliomorpha)". Palaeontology. 55 (3): 623–640. Bibcode:2012Palgy..55..623B. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01137.x.
  4. ^ Laurin, M. (2010). How Vertebrates Left the Water. Berkeley, California, USA.: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26647-6.
  5. ^ Laurin, M.; Girondot, M.; Loth, M.M. (2004). "The evolution of long bone microanatomy and lifestyle in lissamphibians" (PDF). Paleobiology. 30 (4): 589–613. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2004)030<0589:teolbm>2.0.co;2. S2CID 13808379.