Re: DML Omnipedia stuff

["Nicholas J. Pharris" <pharrinj@PLU.edu>]

On Thu, 15 Feb 1996, Jeff Poling wrote:

OK...If no one else is going to have a stab at this one...


>    The clade Archosauria ("ruling lizards"?) includes the Crocodylia
> ("???"), Pterosauria ("flying lizard"?), Dinosauria (including Aves),
> Thecodontia ("???") and ????

Well, it includes the: 

Crocodylia (I thought it was "Crocodilia") (="crocodiles"), 
Pterosauria ("flying lizards", 
Dinosauria, 
Lagosuchia ("rabbit crocodiles"--incl. Lagosuchidae and Lagerpetonidae),
Aetosauria ("eagle lizards"--big armored herbivores), 
Phytosauria ("plant lizards," AKA Parasuchia "beside 
    crocodiles"--crocodile mimics), 
Rauisuchia ("Rau's crocodiles),
Ornithosuchia ("bird crocodiles"),
_Euparkeria_,
Erythrosuchia ("red crocodiles," after the red stain of the bones of the 
    first specimens),
and Proterosuchia ("first crocodiles").

There are also some odd little dinosaurlike genera (_Longisquama_, 
_Scleromochlus_) that I have never seen adequately classified.

The "Thecodontia" ("socket teeth") are a paraphyletic assemblage devised 
to hold the last eight groups (i.e. any archosaur that was not a 
dinosaur, pterosaur, or crocodilian).

The clade Archosauromorpha includes archosaurs and the following:

Protorosauria ("first lizards"),
Rhynchosauria ("beak lizards"),
and Trilophosauria ("three-crest lizards").

> 
>    Ornithodira ("bird ankle"?) includes Dinosauria, Pterosauria and ???

"bird neck;" includes Dinosauria, Pterosauria, and Lagosuchia

> 
>    How's this definition:  Diapsida n. ("two holes in the head"?) clade of
> animals distinguished by two temporal fenestrae, consisting of the
> Archosauria and ???

Archosauromorpha, Lepidosauromorpha (lizards, snakes, sphenodonts, 
?placodonts, ?plesiosaurs, ?nothosaurs, ?ichthyosaurs), and Eosuchia 
(early diapsids; paraphyletic, I think, although I do not have specifics)


>    What is the croc type ankle clade called, what orders are in it, and what
> does the name translate to?

Crurotarsi (?"leg ankles"):

Crocodilia
Aetosauria
Phytosauria
Rauisuchia

Notice how the fact that this clade exists shoots the Thecodontia 
completely to heck.


>    (none of the above needs to be all inclusive.  Major groups will do.
> Wish I had access to better references.....)
> 
>    Is there a feature in saurischians that they do not share with
> predentatans?  I've decided to drop Ornithischia in favor of Predentata and
> it might be a good idea to drop Saurischia for the same reasons.  What would
> be a good name?

Just very little, technical, and hard-to-discern features.  I don't like 
the name "Saurischia" either, for reasons I have mentioned before.

BTW, Stan, just a little point:  the bone is called the Predentary; 
"predentate" means "possessing a predentary".


>    I think I'm going to do a simple, static cladogram for the Omnipedia.
> Anybody have web pages with "up to date" cladograms I can put in links to?
> Also, in _The Dinosauria_, there's a clade between coelurosauria and
> maniraptora that is not identified.  It places the Elmisauridae in this
> clade.  Anybody know the name for this clade?

Be careful about relying too heavily on the cladograms in _The 
Dinosauria_, especially the theropod ones.  A lot has changed in the last 
six years.


>    Kelly Milner-Hals, I lost the address for the Dinotrekking web page.
> Pass it along?
> 

Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(206)535-8204
PharriNJ@PLU.edu