Pseudosuchia is the clade consisting of crocodilians and all the extinct reptiles more closely related to them than to any living species. Beneath this formal definition lays a once dynamic and diverse group reptiles that were far more than simply minor variations of today's crocodilians. Pseudosuchia is one of the two branches of the clade Archosauria, the ruling reptiles. This is the same clade that contained the dinosaurs, and pseudosuchians possessed many of the same traits that made their more famous cousins so successful. Indeed, during the Triassic Period, it was not dinosaurs but the pseudosuchians who were the dominant megafauna. Afterwards, they remained the most persistent competitors of the dinosaurs.

Pseudosuchia included small, pugnosed planteaters, large tanklike species, species which became fully aquatic, as well as the largest terrestrial predators to terrorize the Earth after the demise of the dinosaurs. Even the semiaquatic crocodilelike species were highly diverse, including specialized mollusk crushers, dedicated planteaters, and even bussized species able to match the largest carnivorous dinosaurs. Despite their former diversity and evolutionary success, most prehistoric pseudosuchians remain obscure compared to dinosaurs or pterosaurs.

This video aims to help change that by providing an overview of Pseudosuchia, the other half of the fascinating success story that was Archosauria. The first half of the video covers a range of subject related to the clade, ranging from their metabolisms to evolutionary trends in their skulls and limbs. The second half of the video provides a synopsis of each major pseudosuchian subclade and a number of individual species of note, as well as providing a basic idea of how all these reptiles (including modern crocodilians) fit together.

Thank you to the themattalorian for narrating this video and to Armin Reindl for narrating the script.



00:00 Introduction
03:23 Origin
05:26 Classification
08:20 Modern Crocodilian Diversity
09:41 Etymology
13:15 Evolutionary History
15:55 Modern Crocodilian Ecologies
17:24 Diets and Teeth
20:26 Skulls
24:26 Limbs
29:28 Metabolism
32:24 Integument
37:03 Reproduction
38:52 Imposter Crocodiles
41:02 Phytosaurs: Crocodilian Mimics
43:43 Basal Pseudosuchians
45:30 Ornithosuchidae: BigHeaded Carnivores
47:06 Aetosaurs: Tank Crocs
49:00 Poposauroidea: Ragtag Misfits
52:43 Loricata and the Rauisuchians: The Top Triassic Predators
56:36 Basal Crocodylomorphs
58:36 Protosuchians: The Next Stage
1:01:02 Thalattosuchia: Sea Crocodiles
1:05:39 Notosuchia: The Pseudosuchian Resurgence
1:16:22 Neosuchia: The AlmostCrocodiles
1:25:00 True Crocodilians
1:33:01 Mekosuchinae: The Australian Crocodilians
1:35:34 Conclusion
1:39:10 Outro