The year 2018 in archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2018 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of every kind that have been described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that occurred in the year 2018.
General research
A study on the morphology of dorsal vertebrae of extant and fossil archosaurs, and on its implications for inferring lung structure in non-avian dinosauriform archosaurs, is published by Brocklehurst, Schachner & Sellers (2018). A study on the hip joint mobility of the extant common quail, and its implications for inferring the hip joint range of motion in extinct ornithodirans, is published by Manafzadeh & Padian (2018). A study on the soft tissue anatomy of the hip joint in non-dinosaurian dinosauromorphs and early dinosaurs is published by Tsai et al. (2018). A study on the assembly of the body plan of birds along the whole avian stem-lineage, especially in non-avian dinosaurs, reconstructing the large-scale patterns of the evolution of bird-like traits in bird ancestors, is published by Cau (2018), who names new clades Dracohors and Maniraptoromorpha. A study on the histology of limb bones of Anchiornis, Aurornis, Eosinopteryx, Serikornis and Jeholornis, and on the dynamics of skeletal growth in these taxa, is published by Prondvai et al. (2018). Discovery of fossilised skin in specimens of Beipiaosaurus, Sinornithosaurus, Microraptor and Confuciusornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota is reported by McNamara et al. (2018). Two theropod bones, preserving shark and crocodyliform feeding traces and invertebrate traces, are described from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Navesink Formation (New Jersey, United States) by Brownstein (2018). A study on the relationship between bony and muscular features of the tongue in living archosaurs, and on the evolution of the morphology of the bony elements of the tongue in bird-line archosaurs, is published by Li, Zhou & Clarke (2018). An archosaur trackway consisting of 10 successive pes imprints is described from the Upper Triassic Irohalene Member of the Timezgadiouine Formation (Morocco) by Zouheir et al. (2018), supporting a cosmopolitan distribution of pentadactyl but functionally tridactyl chirotheres (Parachirotherium) and grallatorids across the Ladinian-Carnian boundary, and documenting the occurrence of very large Eubrontes trackmakers in the early Carnian. A large assemblage of archosaur (dinosaur, pterosaur and crocodylomorph) tracks is described from the Cretaceous Naturita Formation (Utah, United States) by Lockley, Burton & Grondel (2018). A study on assemblages of nesting ring-billed gulls, California gulls, American white pelicans and double-crested cormorants at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge (Montana, United States), evaluating their utility as taphonomic models for interpreting nesting sites of fossils archosaurs, is published online by Ferguson, Varricchio & Ferguson (2018).