Phytosauria

Phytosauria is a nearly cosmopolitan clade of large, quadrupedal, carnivorous archosauriforms. They are known unambiguously from Late Triassic deposits, although the clade’s ghost lineage extends at least to the late Early Triassic. Their nares are uniquely located close to the orbits rather than anteriorly in the rostrum as in modern crocodylians, and the rostrum is formed by elongated premaxillae bearing many teeth. Phytosaurs have roughly triangular, ornamented paramedian osteoderms, rounder appendicular osteoderms, and a unique ‘gular shield’ assembled from multiple, irregular osteoderms under the throat. Phytosaurs are reconstructed as semi-aquatic because of their general similarity to modern crocodylians and...