Metasuchia

Metasuchia
Temporal range: Early Jurassic - Recent, 196.5–0 Ma
Skull of Sebecus icaeorhinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Mesoeucrocodylia
Clade: Metasuchia
Benton and Clark, 1988
Clades

Metasuchia is a major clade within the superorder Crocodylomorpha. It is split into two main groups, Notosuchia and Neosuchia.[1] Notosuchia is an extinct group that contains primarily small-bodied Cretaceous taxa with heterodont dentition. Neosuchia includes the extant crocodylians and basal taxa, such as peirosaurids and pholidosaurids. It is phylogenetically defined by Sereno et al. (2001) as a clade containing Notosuchus terrestris, Crocodylus niloticus, and all descendants of their common ancestor.[2]

Phylogenetics

Metasuchia

 Notosuchia




Anatosuchus





Barcinosuchus



Itasuchus




Miadanasuchus



Trematochampsa



Caririsuchus





Mahajangasuchidae



Peirosauridae





Neosuchia





The phylogeny of basal metasuchians has experienced many revisions in recent years.[1] The phylogeny of notosuchians has been particularly revised, with the construction of Sebecia by Larsson and Sues (2007) to include peirosaurids in the clade.[3] Previously, peirosaurids were placed outside of Notosuchia. Larsson and Sues (2007) also suggested that Sebecosuchia (containing the families Baurusuchidae and Sebecidae) was polyphyletic, as Baurusuchus was placed outside Sebecia, which itself was placed outside Notosuchia. However, more recent phylogenetic studies have placed Baurusuchus within Notosuchia once again, although it is still not considered to be a sebecosuchian.[1]

In 2012, a phylogenetic study was done to produce supertrees of Crocodyliformes, including 184 species.[4] The most parsimonious trees were highly resolved, meaning the phylogenetic relationships found in the analysis were highly likely. As such, below is the consensus tree from the study, focusing on the Metasuchian branch of the tree.

Metasuchia
Notosuchia


Araripesuchus wegeneri




Araripesuchus tsangatsangana



Araripesuchus buitreraensis




Araripesuchus patagonicus



Araripesuchus gomesii








Uruguaysuchus terrai



Uruguaysuchus aznarezi





Libycosuchus brevirostris




Simosuchus clarki





Malawisuchus mwakasyungutiensis



Candidodon itapecuruense






Notosuchus terrestris




Comahuesuchus brachybuccalis




Mariliasuchus amarali




Yacarerani boliviensis



Pakasuchus kapilimai



Adamantinasuchus navae








Stratiotosuchus maxhechti



Pehuenchesuchus enderi



Pabwehshi pakistanensis



Iberosuchus macrodon



Eremosuchus elkoholicus



Doratodon



Bergisuchus dietrichbergi



Baurusuchus salgadoensis



Baurusuchus pachechoi




Chimaerasuchus paradoxus




Sphagesaurus huenei



Sphagesaurus montealtensis







Sebecus huilensis



Sebecus icaeorhinus





Itaborai Croc



Bretesuchus bonapartei













Anatosuchus minor





Barcinosuchus gradilis



Itasuchus jesuinoi




Miadanasuchus oblita



Trematochampsa taqueti



Caririsuchus camposi




Mahajangasuchidae

Kaprosuchus saharicus



Mahajangasuchus insignis



Peirosauridae

Hamadasuchus rebouli




Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi



Uberabasuchus terrificus




Peirosaurus torminni



Lomasuchus palpebrosus








Neosuchia





References

  1. 1 2 3 Sereno, P. C.; Larsson, H. C. E. (2009). "Cretaceous crocodyliforms from the Sahara". ZooKeys 28 (2009): 1–143. doi:10.3897/zookeys.28.325.
  2. Sereno, P. C.; Larsson, H. C. E.; Sidor, C. A.; Gado, B. (2001). "The giant crocodyliform Sarcosuchus from the Cretaceous of Africa". Science 294 (5546): 1516–1519. doi:10.1126/science.1066521. PMID 11679634.
  3. Larsson, H. C. E.; Sues, H.-D. (2007). "Cranial osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Hamadasuchus rebouli (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Cretaceous of Morocco". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149: 533–567. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00271.x.
  4. Bronzati, M.; Montefeltro, F. C.; Langer, M. C. (2012). "A species-level supertree of Crocodyliformes". Historical Biology: 1. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.662680.

External links

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