Knowra Poposauroidea Poposauroidea Poposauroidea is a clade of Triassic pseudosuchian archosaurs that included diverse forms, from bipedal predators to sail-backed reptiles. Its members were crocodile-line archosaurs, not dinosaurs.
Pseudosuchia : The crocodile-line branch of archosaurs, including living crocodilians and their extinct relatives. Poposauroids belong to this branch of archosaurs.
Poposaurus : A Late Triassic poposauroid known for a long-legged, bipedal body plan. It is a prominent example of a terrestrial poposauroid that moved on two legs.
Bipedalism : A mode of locomotion in which an animal moves primarily on two legs. Long hind limbs enabled bipedal locomotion in several poposauroid lineages.
Permian–Triassic extinction event : The largest known mass extinction, around 252 million years ago, marking the transition from the Permian to the Triassic. Archosaurs diversified in ecosystems reshaped by this extinction.
Dinosauria : The clade of reptiles that includes birds and their extinct non-avian relatives. Poposauroids were pseudosuchians, despite some members’ dinosaur-like appearance.
Archosauria : The reptile group containing crocodilians, birds, dinosaurs, and their extinct relatives. This larger group contains both pseudosuchians and dinosaurs.
Arizonasaurus : A Middle Triassic poposauroid with tall neural spines forming a prominent back sail. Its sail-backed anatomy illustrates one of the clade’s striking forms.
Dorsal sail : An enlarged structure along an animal’s back, often formed by elongated vertebral spines. Elongated vertebral spines gave some poposauroids conspicuous back sails.
Manda Beds : A Middle Triassic fossil-bearing formation in Tanzania known for diverse vertebrate remains. Its fossils document early pseudosuchians relevant to poposauroid origins.
Theropoda : A dinosaur group that includes birds and predominantly bipedal, meat-eating extinct forms. Bipedal poposauroids independently evolved features also seen in theropods.
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