Talk:Sphenosuchia

Paraphyly of Sphenosuchia
A study by Clark et. al. (2004) reveals Sphenosuchia to be paraphyletic, with the "sphenosuchians" in different positions on the phylogenetic tree. This phylogeny is shown as follows:

Crocodylomorpha |-- Litargosuchus |-- Terrestrisuchus |-- Pseudhesperosuchus |-- Saltoposuchus |-- Hesperosuchus |-- Dromicosuchus |-- Kayentasuchus `--+-- Sphenosuchus

`--+-- Dibothrosuchus

`--+-- Junggarsuchus

`-- Crocodyliformes

The "sphenosuchians" that were not included in this cladistic analysis: Barbarenasuchus, Clarencea, Dyoplax, Hallopus, Macelognathus, Parrishia, Pedeticosaurus, and Trialestes.

Clark, J. M., Xu, X., Forster, C. A. & Wang, Y., 2004: A Middle Jurassic ‘sphenosuchian’ from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull.

–Nature: Vol. 430, pp. 1021-1024