Rauisuchia

Abstract

Abstract‘Rauisuchia’ comprises Triassic pseudosuchians that ranged greatly in body size, locomotor styles and feeding ecologies. Our concept of what constitutes a rauisuchian is changing as a result of discoveries over the last 15 years. New evidence has shown that rauisuchians are probably not a natural (monophyletic) group, but instead are a number of smaller clades (e.g. Rauisuchidae, Ctenosauriscidae, Shuvosauridae) that may not be each other's closest relatives within Pseudosuchia. Here, we acknowledge that there are still large gaps in the basic understanding in the alpha-level taxonomy and relationships of these groups, but good progress is being made. As a result of renewed interest in rauisuchians, an expanding number of recent studies have focused on the growth, locomotor habits, and biomechanics of these animals, and we review these studies here. We are clearly in the midst of a renaissance in our understanding of rauisuchian evolution and the continuation of detailed descriptions, the development of explicit phylogenetic hypotheses, and explicit palaeobiological studies are essential in advancing our knowledge of these extinct animals.

Post‐hatchling cranial ontogeny in the Early Triassic diapsid reptile Proterosuchus fergusi

“…‘rauisuchians’, ornithosuchids, herrerasaurids; Sereno & Novas, ; von Baczko & Ezcurra, ; Nesbitt et al. ). These massive skulls probably allowed the occupation of new niches, including the role of top predators in their respective ecosystems.…”

The braincase of Prestosuchus chiniquensis (Archosauria: Suchia)

“…The shape of this articulation suggests a place of potential kinesis according to Liparini (2008: fig. 27; see Nesbitt et al 2013). …”

Anatomy, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Prestosuchus chiniquensis (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the original collection of von Huene, Middle-Late Triassic of southern Brazil

“…They had a global distribution during this time and represent important faunal elements of all known faunas (Nesbitt, 2011). Although several groups of pseudosuchians constitute well-defined, monophyletic units, such as the phytosaurs, aetosaurs, gracilisuchids, ornithosuchids, erpetosuchids, and crocodylomorphs, "rauisuchians" are often regarded as a waste-basket taxon for a variety of pseudosuchian archosaurs that cannot be referred to any of these groups (see Gower, 2000;Nesbitt et al, 2013a;Ezcurra, 2016). One of the principal problems with "rauisuchians" is our still poor understanding of the alpha taxonomy of the taxa included in this group and their anatomy (Gower, 2000;Brusatte et al, 2010;Nesbitt, 2011), although great advances have been made in this regard in the last decade (see Weinbaum and Hungerbühler, 2007;Gower and Schoch, 2009;Brusatte et al, 2010;Nesbitt, 2011;Lautenschlager and Desojo, 2011;Butler et al, 2011;Lautenschlager and Rauhut, 2015;Lacerda et al, 2016;Lessner et al, 2016;Nesbitt and Desojo, 2017).…”