Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 4, 2026

Protosuchidae

Protosuchidae is a family of basal crocodyliform reptiles that lived from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. This family should not be confused with Protosuchia, which is an informal evolutionary grade of primitive crocodyliforms

Last revised
Jul 4, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
155 w
Citations
2
Source
Protosuchids
Temporal range: Late Triassic - Early Cretaceous
Skeletal reconstruction of Protosuchus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Family: Protosuchidae
Brown, 1934
Genera

Protosuchidae is a family of basal crocodyliform reptiles that lived from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. This family should not be confused with Protosuchia, which is an informal evolutionary grade of primitive crocodyliforms

Distribution

Triassic protosuchids are known from Lesotho, Argentina, and Arizona. Jurassic protosuchids are known from Nova Scotia, Poland, South Africa, and Arizona. Cretaceous protosuchids are known from China.1

Phylogeny

Below is a phylogeny of protosuchids modified from Bronzati et al. (2012).2

References

References

  1. The Paleobiology Database: Protosuchidae
  2. Bronzati, M.; Montefeltro, F. C.; Langer, M. C. (2012). "A species-level supertree of Crocodyliformes". Historical Biology. 24 (6): 598–606. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.662680. S2CID 53412111.