Ornithosuchidae

Ornithosuchus with his prey, the Rhynchosaurier Hyperodapedon

• Scotland
• South America

The Ornithosuchidae are a taxon of extinct predatory living reptiles from the group of Archosauria. They lived in the Upper Triassic and reached a length of 0.5 to 4 meters. Externally, they resemble the theropod predatory dinosaurs, her ankle, however, corresponds to that of the crocodiles, with which they form, together with other forms, the plant species of Crurotarsi.

Features

Their hind legs were longer than their front legs, and had a substantially vertical position, so they were only slightly spread apart and were more or less vertically in line with the body. It is probable that the animals could both quadruped ( on four legs ) and biped move (only on the hind legs ), the front legs still represented two thirds of the length of the hind legs. The skull was built great, but graceful in comparison to the hull. The skull surface was flat, the skull windows were large, the neck strong and short. Between premaxilla and maxilla they had a large diastema in the, mouth closed two teeth of the lower jaw attacked. The teeth were large and laterally flattened. The Ornithosuchidae were armored on the back by two rows of small bony plates ( Osteodermata ), on the tail by a series of bony plates.

Genera

• Ornithosuchus
• Venaticosuchus
• Riojasuchus