Elosuchus is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodyliform that lived during the Early Cretaceous of what is now North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Niger). Elosuchus had an elongated snout like a gharial and was probably a fully aquatic animal. The genus contains two species, E. cherifiensis from Algeria and Morocco, formerly described as a species of Thoracosaurus by Lavocat, and E. felixi from Niger. The genus has been recognized to be separate from Thoracosaurus by de Broin in 2002.

 de Broin (2002) created the family Elosuchidae to contain Elosuchus and the genus Stolokrosuchus from Niger. However, recent phylogenetic analyses usually find Stolokrosuchus to be one of the basalmost neosuchian, only distantly related to Elosuchus. Some analyses find a monophyletic Pholidosauridae that includes Elosuchus, while other analyses find Elosuchus to nest with taxa like Sarcosuchus in a clade as a sister-taxon to the node Dyrosauridae + Pholidosauridae.

 Pholidosauridae is an extinct family of aquatic neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils have been found in Europe (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden), Africa (Algeria, Niger, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia), North America (Canada and the United States) and South America (Brazil and Uruguay). The pholidosaurids first appeared in the fossil record during the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic and went extinct during the Late Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

 Sarcosuchus, informally known as "SuperCroc" is one of the best known pholidosaurs. It is believed to have attained lengths of up to 12 meters and weighed up to 8 tonnes. One genus, Suchosaurus, once thought to be a pholidosaur, has since been shown to be a spinosaurid theropod dinosaur.

 Pholidosauridae is usually considered to be most closely related to the Dyrosauridae. However, the relationship between these families isn't fully understood. Pholidosauridae might be monophyletic, paraphyletic or even a polyphyletic in relation to Dyrosauridae. For example, Fortier, Perea & Schultz (2011) found the family to be monophyletic, and include to main lineages: the Elosuchus–Meridiosaurus lineage and the Pholidosaurus lineage.

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Tags: Вымершие рептилии, Мел, архозавроморфы, архозавры, диапсиды, крокодиломорфы, круротарзы, мезоэукрокодилии, неозухии, равизухии, фолидозавриды

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