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Chroniosuchia is a group of that lived from the Middle Permian to Late Triassic in what is now Kyrgyzstan, China and Germany, Eastern Europe. Chroniosuchians are often thought to be , but some recent phylogenetic analyses suggest instead that they are Stem tetrapoda. They were all rather short limbed with a strong tail and elongated snout, somewhat resembling modern . The group is traditionally considered to be a suborder or order of . Chroniosuchians likely had ecological niches as riverside predators, and may have been outcompeted by semiaquatic true reptiles such as phytosaurs in the late Triassic. Most forms bore a heavy armour of along the back, possibly for protection against land born predators like , or to strengthen the axial skeleton for terrestrial locomotion. Indeed, femoral microanatomy of Chroniosaurus suggests that it was amphibious to terrestrial.
Chroniosuchians are distinguished from other early reptiliomorphs by the lack of intertemporal bones in the skull, as well as the presence of holes in front of the eye sockets called antorbital fenestrae. Like many early tetrapods, chroniosuchians have vertebrae that are divided into three parts: a pleurocentrum and an intercentrum on the bottom, and a neural arch on top. Chroniosuchians have shizomerous vertebrae, meaning that the pleurocentrum makes up most of the body of the vertebra while the intercentrum is small and wedge-like.
== Gallery ==
Classification
Taxonomy
Phylogeny
Below is the cladogram showing the preferred phylogeny of Buchwitz et al. (2012):
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See also
External links
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