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Sphagesauridae is a group of notosuchian crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of South America characterized by highly specialized jaws and dentition. Here, we describe a new sphagesaurid from the Santo Anastácio Formation (Caiuá Group, Bauru Basin), south-east Brazil. The specimen is composed of a partial palate, neurocranium, mandible and fragmentary teeth. It represents a new species that can be assigned to Caipirasuchus due to the presence of a lateromedially narrow and anteroposteriorly long mandibular symphyseal region, apicobasal ridges on the posterior teeth, a diastema between D5 and D6, and a linear row of large neurovascular foramina on the lateral surface of the dentary. It differs from previously described Caipirasuchus species based on a ventrolaterally inclined surface of the dentaries posterior to the tooth row, a connection between the anteroventral margin of the external mandibular fenestra and the floor of the Meckelian canal, and the anterior process of the angular forming a 'V'-shaped suture in its contact with the splenial. The results of a phylogenetic analysis of notosuchians recovered the so-called 'advanced notosuchians' in a clade, for which we propose a phylogenetic definition and erect the name Sphagesauria. We also recovered two more inclusive clades encompassing an array of Mesozoic notosuchians, here named Xenodontosuchia, which includes Sphagesauria + Baurusuchia, and Eunotosuchia, including Xenodontosuchia, Uruguaysuchidae and other Cretaceous forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triassic beds from Argentina and Brazil provide the most relevant fossil record of early dinosauriforms in terms of numerical abundance and taxonomic diversity. This record currently represents the best source to understand the origin and early evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs. In the present paper we offer an updated review focused on the available evidence of Carnian dinosaurs from this continent, but we also discuss the record of Triassic dinosaur precursors and the evolution of Triassic dinosaurs in other continents. It is clear that, aside the agreed taxonomic composition of some particular dinosaurian subclades (e.g., Herrerasauridae, Neotheropoda), there is no consensus about early dinosaur phylogeny, and our paper is not the exception. Recent years witnessed the discovery of several new early dinosaurian taxa, as well as reviews of the taxonomic allocation of several renowned forms such as Lagerpeton , Lewisuchus , Pisanosaurus , and Eoraptor. New analyses demonstrate that evidence supporting the taxonomic referrals of pre-Norian dinosaurs to Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha and Ornithischia are tenuous, at best. Here we present new anatomical observations and comparisons for each of these South American early dinosauriforms with the aim to test previous phylogenetic interpretations. Evidence from South America allows reviewing the phylogenetic relationships of taxa from other continents, including Tawa, Chindesaurus, and Daemonosaurus, which are here suggested to nest within Herrerasauria. Evidence at hand indicates that herrerasaurs were a successful clade of archaic predatory saurischians that inhabited both South and North America, and probably also India and Europe. • The most abundant Carnian dinosaurs are members of Sauropodomorpha. • Tawa , Chindesaurus and Daemonosaurus are late surviving, non-herrerasaurid members of Herrerasauria. • The phylogenetic relationships of early dinosaurs are controversial and disparate results have increased in recent years. • The early evolution of dinosaurs was a complex process that occurred in the context of a "crowded ecospace". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolutionary history of dinosaurs might date back to the first stages of the Triassic (c. 250-240 Ma), but the oldest unequivocal records of the group come from Late Triassic (Carnian - c. 230 Ma) rocks of South America. Here, we present the first braincase endocast of a Carnian dinosaur, the sauropodomorph Saturnalia tupiniquim, and provide new data regarding the evolution of the floccular and parafloccular lobe of the cerebellum (FFL), which has been extensively discussed in the field of palaeoneurology. Previous studies proposed that the development of a permanent quadrupedal stance was one of the factors leading to the volume reduction of the FFL of sauropods. However, based on the new data for S. tupiniquim we identified a first moment of FFL volume reduction in non-sauropodan Sauropodomorpha, preceding the acquisition of a fully quadrupedal stance. Analysing variations in FFL volume alongside other morphological changes in the group, we suggest that this reduction is potentially related to the adoption of a more restricted herbivore diet. In this context, the FFL of sauropods might represent a vestigial trait, retained in a reduced version from the bipedal and predatory early sauropodomorphs.