Extinct clade of reptiles
Aetosauriformes is an extinct clade of early-diverging pseudosuchians (the group of archosaurs that contains modern crocodylians and their stem group relatives). It includes the aetosaurs , a group of heavily armoured and at least partially herbivorous pseudosuchians, as well as the closely related genera Acaenasuchus , Euscolosuchus and Revueltosaurus .[ 1]
Classification
Aetosauriformes was named in 2021 by William G. Parker and colleagues, as part of a redescription of the species Revueltosaurus callenderi . It is a stem-based taxon , defined as the most inclusive clade that contains Acaenasuchus geoffreyi , Aetosaurus ferratus , Desmatosuchus spurensis and Revueltosaurus callenderi , but not Erpetosuchus granti , Ornithosuchus woodwardi , Poposaurus gracilis , Postosuchus kirkpatricki , Rutiodon carolinensis , Crocodylus niloticus (the Nile crocodile) or Passer domesticus (the house sparrow).[ 1]
Parker and colleagues performed a phylogenetic analysis using a modified version of the data matrix of Nesbitt et al. (2011). Aetosauriformes was recovered as the sister group of the family Erpetosuchidae , with the two groups forming the earliest-diverging clade within Suchia . A simplified cladogram from that study is shown below:[ 1]
References
^ a b c Parker, W. G.; Nesbitt, S. J.; Irmis, R. B.; Martz, J. W.; Marsh, A. D.; Brown, M. A.; Stocker, M. R.; Werning, S. (2021). "Osteology and relationships of Revueltosaurus callenderi (Archosauria: Suchia) from the Upper Triassic (Norian) Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, United States" . The Anatomical Record . 305 (10): 2353–2414. doi :10.1002/ar.24757 . PMC 9544919 . PMID 34585850 .