Chief Scientist: LI Chun
　　　　Email: lichun@ivpp.ac.cn

　　　　The Archosauromorpha, including the “thecodonts” (the early members of Archosauria, traditional name), the Protorosauria and the Neodiapsida form a major group during the reptile evolution. It is of great importance to the study of the early history of reptiles and the historical biogeography of the Mesozoic. Until 2005, the Protorosauria and the Neodiapsida fossils were never known in China, and the “thecodonts” was only briefly described from the terrestrial Triassic of North China. Archosauromorpha is mainly terrestrial with little exception, while both terrestrial and aquatic forms of this group were found in the marine Triassic of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces most recently. The marine “thecodonts” put forwards a new look at the morphology, the phylogeny and the ecology of this bunch, and the well-preserved skeleton of terrestrial Archosauromorpha indicates the existence of an unknown Triassic land community in South China. Although all the known data on paleogeography of this area suggests a deep-water environment, a terrestrial biota or geological events are indicated by the new fossils of this project.