[HTML][HTML] Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem

JP Rio, PD Mannion - PeerJ, 2021 - peerj.com
First appearing in the latest Cretaceous, Crocodylia is a clade of semi-aquatic, predatory
reptiles, defined by the last common ancestor of extant alligators, caimans, crocodiles, and …

A review of the non‐semiaquatic adaptations of extinct crocodylomorphs throughout their fossil record

Y Pochat‐Cottilloux - The Anatomical Record, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
Crocodylomorphs constitute a clade of archosaurs that have thrived since the Mesozoic until
today and have survived numerous major biological crises. Contrary to historic belief, their …

Explanations for latitudinal diversity gradients must invoke rate variation

EE Saupe - Proceedings of the National Academy of …, 2023 - National Acad Sciences
The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) describes the pattern of increasing numbers of
species from the poles to the equator. Although recognized for over 200 years, the …

Ecological opportunity and the rise and fall of crocodylomorph evolutionary innovation

TL Stubbs, SE Pierce, A Elsler… - … of the Royal …, 2021 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Understanding the origin, expansion and loss of biodiversity is fundamental to evolutionary
biology. The approximately 26 living species of crocodylomorphs (crocodiles, caimans …

The multi-peak adaptive landscape of crocodylomorph body size evolution

PL Godoy, RBJ Benson, M Bronzati, RJ Butler - BMC evolutionary biology, 2019 - Springer
Background Little is known about the long-term patterns of body size evolution in
Crocodylomorpha, the> 200-million-year-old group that includes living crocodylians and …

A second peirosaurid crocodyliform from the Mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco and the diversity of Gondwanan notosuchians outside South America

CSC Nicholl, ESE Hunt… - Royal Society …, 2021 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Notosuchians are an extinct clade of terrestrial crocodyliforms with a particularly rich record
in the late Early to Late Cretaceous (approx. 130–66 Ma) of Gondwana. Although much of …

Complex macroevolution of pterosaurs

Y Yu, C Zhang, X Xu - Current Biology, 2023 - cell.com
Pterosaurs, the earliest flying tetrapods, are the subject of some recent quantitative
macroevolutionary analyses from different perspectives. 1–2 Here, we use an integrative …

Decoupling speciation and extinction reveals both abiotic and biotic drivers shaped 250 million years of diversity in crocodile-line archosaurs

ARD Payne, PD Mannion, GT Lloyd… - Nature Ecology & …, 2024 - nature.com
Whereas living representatives of Pseudosuchia, crocodylians, number fewer than 30
species, more than 700 pseudosuchian species are known from their 250-million-year fossil …

Environmental drivers of body size evolution in crocodile-line archosaurs

MT Stockdale, MJ Benton - Communications Biology, 2021 - nature.com
Ever since Darwin, biologists have debated the relative roles of external and internal drivers
of large-scale evolution. The distributions and ecology of living crocodilians are controlled …

Phylogenetic and spatial distribution of evolutionary diversification, isolation, and threat in turtles and crocodilians (non-avian archosauromorphs)

TJ Colston, P Kulkarni, W Jetz, RA Pyron - BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2020 - Springer
Background The origin of turtles and crocodiles and their easily recognized body forms
dates to the Triassic and Jurassic. Despite their long-term success, extant species diversity …