Page:The Osteology of the Reptiles.pdf/304

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
286
THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE REPTILES

tiguous, without respiratory canal. Teeth compressed, curved, and sharply pointed. Legs short and rather stout.

This group, proposed as a separate order, is based almost exclusively upon Erythrosuchus. In the structure of the skull it is somewhat intermediate between the Pseudosuchia and the Phytosauria.

Triassic. Erythrosuchus Broom, South Africa. ? Scaponyx Woodward, South America.


C. Suborder Phytosauria

Large, crawling, subaquatic reptiles, reaching a length of twenty or more feet, especially characterized by the elongate face, composed chiefly of the premaxillae, the posterior nares, and the deep respiratory canal, formed by the underarching of the palatines. Skull rugose, the lateral, temporal, and antorbital openings large, the supratemporal opening small and more or less depressed below the plane of the parietals. Tip of premaxillae decurved, with two or three very long, cylindrical teeth on each. Teeth either cylindrical throughout, or the posterior ones more or less flattened and separated. Neck, body, and tail covered with four or more rows of strong dermal bones; the pectoral region and abdomen with smaller, bony scutes. Tail long and flattened, compressed. Feet probably webbed. Vertebrae platycoelous; two sacrals.


Family Phytosauridae. Ilium with postacetabular process; pubis not dilated at extremity.

Triassic. Phytosaurus Jaeger, Mystriosuchus Fraas, Mesorhinus Jaekel, Germany. Parasuchus Lydekker, India. Paleorhinus Williston, Angistorhinus Mehl, Lophoprosopus Mehl, Rocky Mts. Rutiodon Emmons (Rhylidodon), Carolina, New York, Connecticut.


Family Stagonolepidae. A supracoracoid foramen. Ilium without postacetabular process; pubes dilated at extremity.

Triassic. Stagonolepis Huxley, England.


[D. Suborder Desmatosuchia]

[Large, long-tailed reptiles reaching a length of perhaps sixteen feet, especially characterized by the probably secondary absence of the upper temporal opening. Cervical and anterior dorsal bony plates bearing long horn-like outgrowths. Skull with large antorbital