Proterochampsidae

Proterochampsidae Temporal range: Middle - Late Triassic, 237–216 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life restoration of Proterochampsa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	†Proterochampsia
Family:	†Proterochampsidae Romer, 1966
Genera
†Barberenachampsa †Cerritosaurus †Proterochampsa †Tropidosuchus †Rhadinosuchinae †Chanaresuchus †Gualosuchus †Pseudochampsa †Rhadinosuchus
Synonyms
Rhadinosuchidae Hoffstetter, 1955

Proterochampsidae is a family of proterochampsian archosauriforms. Proterochampsids may have filled an ecological niche similar to modern crocodiles, and had a general crocodile-like appearance. They lived in what is now South America in the Middle and Late Triassic.

Proterochampsids have long, crocodile-like skulls. The posterior portion of the skull is wide while the snout is very narrow. Most proterochampsids also have downturned snouts. Like many early archosauriforms, they also have dermal armour.

Proterochampsids have small holes called dorsal fenestrae at the top of their skulls. Unlike other early archosauromorphs, they do not have parietal foramina, which in many reptiles holds a parietal eye. The postorbital bones behind the eye sockets have thick, jagged crests. As another diagnostic feature of the group, the holes that allow the passage of the internal carotid artery through the braincase open at the sides of a bony projection called the basipterygoid process. Proterochampsids are primitive in that they have simple plate-like pelvises, but they lack small bones in the vertebra called intercentra that are common in earlier reptiles.

As in most archosaurs, distinguishing features can be seen in the shape of the ankle bones. A projection on the calcaneum bone called the calcaneal tuber is narrow and positioned downward relative to other lateral projections on the bone. The calcaneum also has a facet that attaches to both the fibula bone of the leg and another tarsal, or ankle bone. A hemicylindrical facet on the calcaneum attaches to another bone in the ankle called the astragalus. The astragalus has facets that attach to the tibia and fibula that are adjacent to each other.

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