Archosauria Cope, 1869

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 193

Archosauria Cope, 1869 5 Avesuchia Benton, 1999

ORIGINAL DEFINITION: A monophyletic taxon composed of the living crocodiles and birds, and of fossil taxa that share their most recent common ancestor ( Gauthier and Padian, 1985).

REVISED DEFINITION: Node: The least inclusive clade containing Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768 , and Passer domesticus Linnaeus, 1758 (sensu Sereno, 2005).

TEMPORAL RANGE: Early Triassic (Olenekian, Xilousuchus sapingensis Wu, 1981 ) to Recent ( Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768 ).

SUPPORT: (1) Palatal processes of the maxilla meet at the midline (32-1)*. (2) Lagenar/cochlea recess present and elongated and tubular (118-1)*. (3) External foramen for abducens nerves within prootic only (122- 1). (4) Antorbital fossa present on the lacrimal, dorsal process of the maxilla and the dorsolateral margin of the posterior process of the maxilla (the ventral border of the antorbital fenestra) (137-2)*. (5) Posteroventral portion of the coracoid possesses a ‘‘swollen’’ tuber (225-1)*. (6) Lateral tuber (5 radius tuber) on the proximal portion of the ulna present (237-1)*. (7) Longest metacarpal: Longest metatarsal,0.5 (245-1). (8) Anteromedial tuber of the proximal portion of the femur present (300-1)*. (9) Tibial facet of the astragalus divided into posteromedial and anterolateral basins (366-1). (10) Calcaneal tuber orientation, relative to the transverse plane, between 50 ° and 90 ° posteriorly (377-2).

Other possible synapomorphies: AC- CTRAN: Foramina for entrance of cerebral branches of internal carotid artery into the braincase positioned on the anterolateral surface (95-2); acromion process of the scapula distinctly raised above the ventral edge of the scapula (220-1); coracoid with postglenoid process (notch ventral to glen- oid) (222-1); proximal surface of distal tarsal 4 with distinct, proximally raised region on the posterior portion (5 heel of Sereno and Arcucci, 1994a, 1994b) (353-1). These may represent synapomorphies of Archosauria, but the condition of most of these are either unknown or inapplicable in pterosaurs.