pseudosuchians

Heilmann argued that birds could not have descended from dinosaurs predominantly because dinosaurs lacked clavicles, or so he thought, and he therefore favoured the idea that birds originated from the so-called 'pseudosuchians': primitive archosaurs that were also thought ancestral to dinosaurs and crocodilians.

Scientists Come to a Conclusion: Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs | Universe Today 2010

That misrepresents the diversity of pseudosuchians – the branch of the reptile tree that includes crocodiles, says Stocker.

Ancient 'weirdo' reptile graduated from 4 legs to 2 in adolescence Michael Marshall 2026