Notosuchia

Notosuchia Temporal range: Middle Jurassic – Middle Miocene, 167–11 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mounted skeleton of the notosuchian Simosuchus clarki in the Royal Ontario Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Clade:	Crocodylomorpha
Clade:	Crocodyliformes
Clade:	Mesoeucrocodylia
Clade:	Metasuchia
Clade:	†Notosuchia Gasparini, 1971
Families and genera
†Peirosauroidea †Mahajangasuchidae †Peirosauridae †Uruguaysuchidae? †Ziphosuchia †Libycosuchus †Simosuchus †Candidodontidae †Xenodontosuchia †Chimaerasuchidae †Comahuesuchidae †Razanandrongobe? †Sebecosuchia †Sphagesauria †Eptalofosuchus †Coringasuchus †Coronelsuchus †Notosuchidae †Sphagesauridae

Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosuchia is included within Notosuchia its existence is pushed into the Middle Miocene, about 11 million years ago. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Notosuchia was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved a range of feeding behaviours, including herbivory (Chimaerasuchus), omnivory (Simosuchus), and terrestrial hypercarnivory (Baurusuchus). It included many members with highly derived traits unusual for crocodylomorphs, including mammal-like teeth, flexible bands of shield-like body armor similar to those of armadillos (Armadillosuchus), and possibly fleshy cheeks and pig-like snouts (Notosuchus). The suborder was first named in 1971 by Zulma Gasparini and has since undergone many phylogenetic revisions.^[2]