Aetosauriformes

Aetosauriforms Temporal range: Late Triassic, 237–201.3  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life restoration and size diagram of Desmatosuchus spurensis , an aetosaur.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Clade:	Suchia
Clade:	† Aetosauriformes Parker et al., 2021
Subgroups
† Acaenasuchus † Euscolosuchus † Revueltosaurus † Aetosauria

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]

	Phytosauria Archosauria Avemetatarsalia Pseudosuchia Ornithosuchidae Suchia Gracilisuchidae Paracrocodylomorpha Erpetosuchidae Aetosauriformes Acaenasuchus Euscolosuchus Revueltosaurus Aetosauria

References

1. 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.