A new phylogenetic analysis of Phytosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) with the application of continuous and geometric morphometric character coding.

ABSTRACT: Phytosauria is a clade of large, carnivorous, semi-aquatic archosauromorphs which reached its peak diversity and an almost global distribution in the Late Triassic (c. 230-201 Mya). Previous phylogenetic analyses of Phytosauria have either focused primarily on the relationships of specific subclades, or were limited in taxonomic scope, and no taxonomically comprehensive dataset is currently available. We here present the most taxonomically comprehensive cladistic dataset of phytosaurs to date, based on extensive first-hand study, identification of novel characters and synthesis of previous matrices. This results in an almost twofold increase in phylogenetic information scored per taxon over previous analyses. Alongside a traditional discrete character matrix, three variant matrices

SUBMITTER: Jones AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6292387 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature