Vancleavea campi - what is it? - not an archosauriform.

[David Peters <davidpeters@att.net>]

One of the reasons why Vancleavea campi does not have an antorbital fenestra 
and upper temporal fenestrae is because it is not an archosauriform. It is a 
askeptosaurid thalattosaur and a sister taxon to the short-snouted 
Miodentosaurus. [Links below]

http://2007tga.cgu.org.tw/cdrom/Oral%20(PDF)/ST1-4B-06.pdf
http://www.ivpp.ac.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/200902/W020090813372748918302.pdf

The scales are still weird.

The neomorph bone between the orbits is nothing more than the ascending process 
of the premaxilla. 

For those who still think you have to stare at a specimen in person to publish 
on it, well, now you see how that can prove to be a wee bit myopic. 

David Peters

Refs:

Cheng, Y.-N., X.-C. Wu, T. Sato. 2007. A new thalattosaurian (Reptilia: 
Diapsida) from the Upper Triassic of Guizhou, China. Vert PalAsiatica 45: 
246-260.

Nesbitt, S. J., M. R. Stocker, B. J. Small and A. Downs. 2009. The osteology 
and relationships of Vancleavea campi (Reptilia: Archosauriformes). Zoological 
Journal of the Linnaean Society 157, 814-864.

Parker, W G. & Barton, B. J. 2008. New Information on the Upper Triassic 
archosauriform Vancleavea campi based on new material from the Chinle Formation 
of Arizona. Palaeontologia Electronica 11 (3); 14A: 20p.

Wu, X.-C., Y.-N. Cheng, T. Sato and H.-Y. Shan. 2009. Miodentosaurus brevis 
Cheng 2007 (Diapsida; Thalattosauria): Its postcranial skeleton and 
phylogenetic relationships. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 47:1-20.