As another diagnostic feature of the group, the holes that allow the passage of the internal carotid artery through the braincase open at the sides of a bony projection called the basipterygoid process.

Proterochampsids are primitive in that they have simple plate-like pelvises, but they lack small bones in the vertebra called intercentra that are common in earlier reptiles.

As phylogenetic studies became more common in the 1980s and 1990s, proterochampsids were found to be a distinct group closely related to true archosaurs.

[3] Eleven species have been confirmed to belong to Proterochampsidae: Cerritosaurus binsfeldi, Chanaresuchus bonapartei, Gualosuchus reigi, Kuruxuchampsa dornellesi, Pinheirochampsa rodriguesi, Proterochampsa barrionuevoi, Proterochampsa nodosa, Pseudochampsa ischigualastensis, Rhadinosuchus gracilis, Stenoscelida aurantiacus, and Tropidosuchus romeri.

[5] However, more recent studies reduce Rhadinosuchidae to a subfamily level as Rhadinosuchinae to be placed within Proterochampsidae and include advanced proterochampsid, e.g. Chanaresuchus and Rhadinosuchus.

[8] Below is a cladogram following the phylogenetic analysis of Ezcurra (2016) that recovered Doswelliidae as the sister taxon of Proterochampsidae (within Proterochampsia).

[1] Dorosuchus neoetus Euparkeria capensis (Euparkeriidae) Dongusuchus efremovi Yarasuchus deccanensis Avemetatarsalia Phytosauria The rest of Pseudosuchia (incl.