Poposauridae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iPoposauridae'
Fossil range: Ladinian to Rhaetian

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Subclass:	Diapsida
Infraclass:	Archosauria
(unranked)	Crurotarsi
Order:	Rauisuchia
Suborder:	Poposauria
Family:	Poposauridae Nopcsa, 1923

Genera

Bomsgroveia
Chatterjeea
Effigia
Poposaurus
Postosuchus
Sillosuchus
Shuvosaurus

The Poposauridae are a family of large (around 2.5 to 5 meters long) carnivorous archosaurs which lived alongside dinosaurs during the Late Triassic. They are known from fossil remains from North America and Europe, and constituted the apex predators in a number of environments. Originally believed to be theropod dinosaurs (they mirrored the theropods in a number of respects, such as features of the skull), cladistic analysis has shown them to be related to crocodiles.

J. Michael Parrish's cladistic analysis of crocodylotarsan archosaurs (1993), includes Poposaurus, Postosuchus, Teratosaurus, and Bromsgroveia, in the Poposauridae. However according to Long and Murry 1995, and Galton and Walker 1996, Teratosaurus is not a popsaurid as previously thought, but a Rauisuchid.

Paul Sereno 2005 defines the Poposauridae as "the most inclusive clade containing Poposaurus gracilis Mehl 1915 but not Crocodylus niloticus (Laurenti 1768)."

Despite the genus Postosuchus appearing in the documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs, the group is still poorly known, although it is thought that recent description and discoveries of genera such as Sillosuchus and Shuvosaurus will improve our understanding of these animals and their phylogenetic relationships within the Crurotarsi.

[edit] References

Galton, P. M., 1985, The poposaurid thecodontian Teratosaurus suevicus von Meyer, plus referred specimens mostly based on prosauropod dinosaurs. Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, B, v. 116, p. 1-29.
----- and Alick D. Walker, 1996. Bromsgroveia from the Middle Triassic of England, the earliest record of a poposaurid thecodontian reptile (Archosauria: Rauisuchia). N. Jb. Geol. Palaont. Abh, 201, Number 3 : 303-325.
Long, R. A., and Murry, P A., 1995, Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) Tetrapods from the Southwestern United States: New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, A Division of the Office of Cultural Affairs, Bulletin 4, p. 1-254.
Lucas, SG (1998), Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology. Palaeogeog. Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 143: 347-384.
Parrish, JM (1993), Phylogeny of the Crocodylotarsi, with reference to archosaurian and crurotarsan monophyly. J. Vert. Paleontol. 13: 287-308.
Sereno, P. C. 2005. Stem Archosauria—TaxonSearch [version 1.0, 2005 November 7]