Talk:Sphenosuchia

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Paraphyly of Sphenosuchia

A study by Clark et. al. (2004) reveals Sphenosuchia to be paraphyletic, with the "sphenosuchians" in different positions on the phylogenetic tree. This phylogeny is shown as follows:

Crocodylomorpha

 |-- Litargosuchus 
 |-- Terrestrisuchus  
 |-- Pseudhesperosuchus 
 |-- Saltoposuchus 
 |-- Hesperosuchus 
 |-- Dromicosuchus  
 |-- Kayentasuchus  
 `--+-- Sphenosuchus

    `--+-- Dibothrosuchus

       `--+-- Junggarsuchus

          `-- Crocodyliformes

The "sphenosuchians" that were not included in this cladistic analysis: Barbarenasuchus, Clarencea, Dyoplax, Hallopus, Macelognathus, Parrishia, Pedeticosaurus, and Trialestes.

Clark, J. M., Xu, X., Forster, C. A. & Wang, Y., 2004: A Middle Jurassic ‘sphenosuchian’ from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull.

–Nature: Vol. 430, pp. 1021-1024

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