Proterosuchia
Obsolete suborder of reptiles
title: "Proterosuchia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["archosauriformes", "paraphyletic-groups", "taxa-named-by-robert-broom"] description: "Obsolete suborder of reptiles" topic_path: "general/archosauriformes" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proterosuchia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Obsolete suborder of reptiles ::
| fossil_range = | image = Erythrosuchus NT small.jpg | image_alt = "Erythrosuchus" | image_caption = Erythrosuchus | taxon = Proterosuchia | authority = Broom 1906 | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision_ref = | subdivision = | synonyms = | synonyms_ref =
Proterosuchia is one of the suborders of the paraphyletic group Thecodontia, containing the most primitive and ancestral forms. These were primitive, vaguely crocodile-like, archosauriforms that mostly lived during the Early Triassic epoch.
The name Proterosuchia was coined by Robert Broom in 1906. In later classifications, several families were included, such as Proterosuchidae, Erythrosuchidae, and Proterochampsidae.
Under the cladistic system, this is a paraphyletic grade, rather than a natural group. The name is therefore no longer used, although it can be found in many textbooks (up to and including Carroll's Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution)
In current phylogenetic understanding, the Proterosuchia constitute the basal Archosauriformes; that is, the archosauriform groups but excluding the true Archosauria.
References
References
- Broom, R.. (1906). "On the South African Diaptosaurian Reptile ''Howesia''". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.
- "†suborder Proterosuchia Broom 1906 (archosaur)".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::