Prestosuchidae

Prestosuchidae
Temporal range: Middle – Late Triassic, 247–225 Ma
Mounted skeleton of Prestosuchus at the American Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Loricata
Family: †Prestosuchidae
Romer, 1966
Genera

See text.

Prestosuchidae (in its widest usage) is a polyphyletic grouping of carnivorous archosaurs that lived during the Triassic. They were large active terrestrial apex predators, ranging from around 2.5 to 7 metres (8.2 to 23.0 ft) in length. They succeeded the Erythrosuchidae as the largest archosaurs of their time. While resembling erythrosuchids in size and some features of the skull and skeleton, they were more advanced in their erect posture and crocodile-like ankle, indicating more efficient gait. "Prestosuchids" flourished throughout the whole of the middle, and the early part of the late Triassic, and fossils are so far known from Europe, India, Africa (Tanzania), Argentina, and Paleorrota in Brazil. However, for a long time experts disagree regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the group, what genera should be included, and whether indeed the "Prestosuchidae" constitute a distinct family.

In 2011, Prestosuchidae in its broadest definition was determined to be a poorly-diagnosed and obsolete polyphyletic group of pseudosuchians (crocodilian-lineage archosaurs) leading to the more "advanced" rauisuchids and crocodylomorphs.[1] Some studies since then have reintroduced the term Prestosuchidae in a more limited setting. In these studies it refers to a clade containing Prestosuchus, Saurosuchus, and Luperosuchus.[2][3] Even so, the validity of this clade is unclear, and it is often not supported over a paraphyletic arrangement of its constituents.[4]

  1. ^ Sterling J. Nesbitt (2011). "The Early Evolution of Archosaurs: Relationships and the Origin of Major Clades". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 352: 1–292. doi:10.1206/352.1. hdl:2246/6112. S2CID 83493714.
  2. ^ Sterling J. Nesbitt; Julia B. Desojo (2017). "The Osteology and Phylogenetic Position of Luperosuchus fractus (Archosauria: Loricata) from the Latest Middle Triassic or Earliest Late Triassic of Argentina". Ameghiniana. 54 (3): 261–282. doi:10.5710/AMGH.09.04.2017.3059. hdl:11336/49654. S2CID 132719170.
  3. ^ Desojo, Julia Brenda; Baczko, María Belén von; Rauhut, Oliver W. M. (2020-02-18). "Anatomy, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Prestosuchus chiniquensis (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the original collection of von Huene, Middle-Late Triassic of southern Brazil". Palaeontologia Electronica. 23 (1): 1–55. doi:10.26879/1026. hdl:11336/127498. ISSN 1094-8074.
  4. ^ Lúcio Roberto-Da-Silva; Rodrigo Temp Müller; Marco Aurélio Gallo de França; Sérgio Furtado Cabreira; Sérgio Dias-Da-Silva (2018). "An impressive skeleton of the giant top predator Prestosuchus chiniquensis (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) from the Triassic of Southern Brazil, with phylogenetic remarks". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 32 (7): 1–20. doi:10.1080/08912963.2018.1559841. S2CID 92517047.