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A reptile of a large group that includes the dinosaurs and pterosaurs and is represented today only by the crocodilians.
Subdivision Archosauria, subclass Diapsida
‘At the same time, the broad, dry plains of equatorial Pangea provided a proving ground for a strange new group of lightweight, but large-bodied, archosaurs - the dinosaurs.’
‘Other archosaurs included the pterosaurs, relatives of dinosaurs but not true dinosaurs.’
‘Tyrannosaurs are surprisingly common in many North American fossil beds, especially their large, serrated teeth which they shed periodically like most archosaurs.’
‘The name ‘bird crocodile’ seems to nicely describe all the great archosaurs of Mesozoic, combining as they did features of both crocodiles and birds.’
‘The archosaur skull includes two new fenestra (skull openings).’
Origin
1930s: from modern Latin Archosauria, from Greek arkhos ‘chief’ or arkhōn ‘ruler’ + -saur.