Allokotosauria

Allokotosauria Temporal range: Middle–Late Triassic, Anisian–Norian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Trilophosaurus buettneri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Crocopoda
Clade:	†Allokotosauria Nesbitt et al., 2015
Families
†Pamelaria †Azendohsauridae †Trilophosauridae

Allokotosauria is a clade of early archosauromorph reptiles from the Middle to Late Triassic known from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. Allokotosauria was first described and named when a new monophyletic grouping of specialized herbivorous archosauromorphs was recovered by Sterling J. Nesbitt, John J. Flynn, Adam C. Pritchard, J. Michael Parrish, Lovasoa Ranivoharimanana and André R. Wyss in 2015. The name Allokotosauria is derived from Greek meaning "strange reptiles" in reference to unexpected grouping of early archosauromorph with a high disparity of features typically associated with herbivory. Nesbitt et al. (2015) defined the group as a stem-based taxon containing Azendohsaurus madagaskarensis and Trilophosaurus buettneri and all taxa more closely related to them than to Tanystropheus longobardicus, Proterosuchus fergusi, Protorosaurus speneri or Rhynchosaurus articeps. Therefore, Allokotosauria includes the families Azendohsauridae and Trilophosauridae by definition, as well as the potentially more basal Pamelaria which is closer to them than to other early archosauromorphs. Pamelaria is the earliest known allokotosaur, dating to the Anisian of India. Azendohsauridae is currently represented by a single genus Azendohsaurus known from the Ladinian to Carnian of Africa, while trilophosaurids are known from the Carnian to Norian stages of North America, England and potentially European Russia.