Protosuchia

 ( Crocodyliformes ) 

Protosuchia is a group of extinct Mesozoic . They were small in size (~1 meter in length) and terrestrial. In phylogenetic terms, Protosuchia is considered an informal group because it is a grade of basal crocodyliforms, not a true clade.

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Classification Recent phylogenetic analyses have not supported Protosuchia as a monophyly. However, two studies found a clade of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic animals:Pol D, Ji S-a, Clark JM, Chiappe LM. 2004. Basal crocodyliforms from the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group (Xinjiang, China), and the phylogenetic position of Edentosuchus. Cretaceous Research 25: 603-622.Fiorelli LE, Calvo JO. 2007. The first "protosuchian" (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes) from the Cretaceous (Santonian) of Gondwana. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro 65 (4): 417-459.

• Edentosuchus
• Hemiprotosuchus
• Orthosuchus
• Protosuchus

Both of these studies also found a clade more closely related to Hsisosuchus and Mesoeucrocodylia consisting of Late Jurassic-Late Cretaceous genera:

• Neuquensuchus
• Shantungosuchus
• Sichuanosuchus
• Zosuchus

However, other possible protosuchians from the Late Cretaceous of China-Mongolia, the Gobiosuchidae ( Gobiosuchus and Zaraasuchus), have been found to be either intermediate between these two clades, or members of the Sichuanosuchus clade. There is also another family of Late Jurassic-Late Cretaceous genera, the Shartegosuchidae (e.g. Kyasuchus, Shartegosuchus and Nominosuchus).

Below is a cladogram from Fiorelli and Calvo (2007). Protosuchians are marked by the green bracket.

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