PHOLIDOSAURIDAE ZITTEL & EASTMAN 1902

Fortier, Daniel, Perea, Daniel & Schultz, Cesar, 2011, Redescription and phylogenetic relationships of Meridiosaurus vallisparadisi, a pholidosaurid from the Late Jurassic of Uruguay, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (5), pp. 644-645 : 644-645

PHOLIDOSAURIDAE ZITTEL & EASTMAN 1902

New definition: a stem-based group name including Pholidosaurus schaumburgensis ( Meyer, 1841) and all taxa closer to it than to Dyrosaurus phosphaticus ( Thomas, 1893) or Pelagosaurus typus Bronn, 1841. Composition: Elosuchus cherifiensis ( Lavocat, 1955) , Elosuchus felixi Lapparent de Broin, 2002 , Meridiosaurus vallisparadisi Mones, 1980 , Oceanosuchus boecensis Hua et al., 2007 , Pholidosaurus purbeckensis ( Mansel-Pleydell, 1888) Pholidosaurus schaumburgensis ( Meyer, 1841) , Sarcosuchus hartii ( Marsh, 1869) , Sarcosuchus imperator de Broin & Taquet, 1966 , Terminonaris browni ( Osborn, 1904) , Terminonaris robusta ( Mook, 1934) . Putative pholidosaurids are Anglosuchus geoffroyi ( Owen, 1884) and A. laticeps ( Owen, 1884) , Crocodilaemus robustus Jourdan in Gervais (1871), and Pholidosaurus meyeri ( Dunker, 1843) . Sarcosuchus hartii , from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil, could be the same species of S. imperator , as stated in de Broin & Taquet (1966). The group ranges temporally from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to Late Cretaceous (Late Turonian).

Emended diagnosis: Longirostrine mesoeucrocodylians distinguished by the possession of the following unambiguous synapomorphies: (1) anterodorsal margin of the external naris without the premaxillary dorsal projection; (2) the medial margin of the orbit is formed mostly by the prefrontal, with little or no participation of the frontal; (3) the fifth premaxillary tooth is anterolaterally placed in relation to the maxillary tooth row; (4) the posterior premaxillary teeth are longer then the anterior teeth; (5) the ventral edge of the premaxilla is located deeper than the ventral edge of the maxilla; (6) the distance between the tip of the snout and the anteriormost position of the premaxilla–maxilla suture in dorsal view is smaller than the distance between this and the posterodorsal extremity of the premaxilla (except in Elosuchus ); (7) absence of postorbital–ectopterygoid contact; and (8) the maximal width of premaxillae is wider than the maximal width of the rostrum at the level of the fourth or fifth alveoli.