What is Crurotarsi?
{{Automatic taxobox | name = Crurotarsans | fossil_range = <br>[[Lower Triassic]]&ndash;[[Holocene|Present]], 250{{ndash}}0 mya | image = Protome_batalaria.jpg | image_caption = Life restoration of ''[[Protome batalaria]]'' | image2 = Ornithosuchus_BW.jpg | image2_caption = Life restoration of ''Ornithosuchus woodwardi'' | taxon = Crurotarsi | authority = Sereno & Arcucci, 1990 | subdivision_ranks = Subgroups | subdivision = * {{extinct}}''[[Omosaurus]]'' * {{extinct}}[[Phytosauria]] * [[Archosauria]] ** [[Avemetatarsalia]] ** [[Pseudosuchia]] }} The '''Crurotarsi''' are one of the two main groups of [[archosaurs]]. It includes the archosaurs (living today are [[crocodiles]] and [[birds]]). It also includes all their ancestors and relatives right back to the early [[Triassic]] [[Period (geology)|period]], including the [[Pseudosuchia]].<ref>Sereno, Paul 1991. Basal archosaurs: phylogenetic relationships and functional implications. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' '''11''' (Suppl. 4): 1–51.</ref> '''Crurotarsi''': * [[Avemetatarsalia]] ** †[[Pterosaur]]ia ** †[[Dinosaur]]ia *** [[Bird|Aves]] (birds) * The crocodile line [[Pseudosuchia]] ** †[[Phytosaur]]ia: semi-aquatic long-snouted types ** †[[Aetosaur]]ia: quadrupedal armoured herbivores ** †[[Ornithosuchidae]]: look rather like dinosaurs ** [[Crocodylomorpha]] ([[Crocodilia]] and their ancestors) ** †[[Rauisuchia]] ? uncertain group, includes some large-bodied [[quadruped]]al predators Both main groups of Archosaurs are defined by features of their [[ankle]] [[joint]]s.<ref>Sereno P.C. & Arcucci A.B. 1990. The monophyly of crurotarsal archosaurs and the origin of bird and crocodile ankle joints. ''Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen'' '''180''': 21–52.</ref><ref> Nesbitt S.J. 2011. The early evolution of archosaurs: relationships and the origin of major clades. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 352: 1–292. [http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/352.1]</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Archosaurs]