The year 2012 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 2012 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 2012, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that occurred in the year 2012.
Pseudosuchians
Research
The postcranial skeleton of Sebecus icaeorhinus is described by Diego Pol et al. (2012). Skull anatomy of Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus is described by Mark T. Young et al. (2012). Kemkemia auditorei, previously thought to be a theropod dinosaur, is reinterpreted as a member of Crocodyliformes by Gabriel Lio et al. (2012). A study including a supertree of Crocodyliformes is published by Mario Bronzati, Felipe Chinaglia Montefeltro and Max C. Langer (2012). Skull remains of a member of the genus Gavialis belonging or related to the species Gavialis bengawanicus are described from the Early Pleistocene of Thailand by Martin et al. (2012).