Archosaur
group of reptiles / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archosaurs are a large group of reptiles, including all crocodiles, birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs (flying reptiles). There are also a number of smaller extinct groups, mostly from the Triassic period.[1]
| Archosaurs | |
|---|---|
| |
| Crocodiles basking in the sun. Crocodiles can move quite fast on land by tucking their legs under their body: an archosaur feature. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Eucrocopoda |
| Clade: | Archosauria Cope, 1869 |
| Subgroups | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
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Arctopoda Haeckel, 1895 | |
The Archosaurs are definitely a monophyletic clade, and do not include reptiles such as the Squamata (lizards and snakes) and the Sphenodontia (Sphenodon).[2]
They have these diagnostic features,[3] called synapomorphies in cladistics talk:
- Teeth set in sockets, which makes them less likely to be torn loose during feeding. Some archosaurs, such as birds, are secondarily toothless.
- Openings in the skull in front of the eyes, but behind the nostrils. The openings reduce the weight of the skull.
- Small openings in the jaw bones reduce the weight of the jaw slightly.
- Legs held under the body rather than sprawled, or may be held under the body. This improves both breathing and movement.
The archosaurs or their immediate ancestors survived the catastrophic Permian–Triassic extinction event. Benton comments: "The key tetrapods to benefit from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction was the Archosauromorpha".[4] Then, in the early and middle Triassic, there was rapid evolution into the types of aquatic and land tetrapods which dominated the rest of the Mesozoic era.