Eosuchia

Eosuchia [‚ē·ō′sü·kē·ə]

(paleontology)

The oldest, most primitive, and only extinct order of lepidosaurian reptiles.

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Eosuchia 

an order of extinct reptiles of the subclass Lepidosauria. The Eosuchia lived mainly in the Mesozoic. Sometimes other ancient lepidosaurs are assigned to Eosuchia, for example, Rhynchocephalia, a subclass including the tuatara, an extant species. The Eosuchia proper, for example, Junginia, were small terrestrial lizardlike creatures known mainly from Upper Permian and Lower Triassic deposits of South Africa. Also assigned to Eosuchia are’ the rather large crocodile-like Champsosauria (exceeding 1.5 m in length), which lived in fresh waters and had long, narrow snouts, as in the gavial. Their remains are known from deposits of the Cretaceous-Eocene in Asia, Western Europe, and North America.