relationships. In their study, Sebecosuchia was a derived clade within Notosuchia. Iori and Carvalho (2011) came to similar conclusions, grouping Baurusuchus'' alongside Sebecidae. Below is the cladogram from Turner and Sertich (2010): Diego Pol and Jaime E. Powell (2011) came to the same conclusion, however their analysis couldn't find a monophyletic Baurusuchidae within Sebecosuchia. The following cladogram simplified after their analysis, with focus on Sebecosuchia. Paleobiology All sebecosuchians were carnivorous and terrestrial. The nares open at the very tip of the snout, suggesting that it lived on land rather than in water (in aquatic crocodyliforms, the nares usually open dorsally on top of the snout). The snout itself is laterally compressed, a feature shared with other terrestrial reptiles such as theropod dinosaurs. The eye sockets are opened laterally rather than dorsally as in aquatic crocodyliforms. Moreover, there is a prominent fourth trochanter on the femur for the attachment of muscles that would have aided in upright walking. Although they are now widely accepted to be terrestrial, sebecosuchians were once thought to be semiaquatic, spending part of their time in water. The laterally compressed snout of sebecosuchians may have enabled them to withstand high forces during biting. The teeth are also laterally compressed, pointed, and serrated. Their shape would have allowed them to easily penetrate and slice flesh. The pterygoid bone in the skull is strongly bent, allowing for a larger jaw adductor muscle to quickly close the jaws and give sebecosuchians a powerful bite. References Terrestrial crocodylomorphs Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Paleogene crocodylomorphs Neogene crocodylomorphs Late Cretaceous first appearances Miocene extinctions