Teleocrater (meaning "completed basin", in reference to its closed acetabulum) is a genus of avemetatarsalian archosaur from the Middle Triassic Manda Formation of Tanzania.

The name was coined by English paleontologist Alan Charig in his 1956 doctoral dissertation, but was only formally published in 2017 by Sterling Nesbitt and colleagues.

Uncertainty over the affinities of Teleocrater have persisted since Charig's initial publication; they were not resolved until Nesbitt et al. performed a phylogenetic analysis.

They found that Teleocrater is most closely related to the similarly enigmatic Yarasuchus, Dongusuchus, and Spondylosoma in a group that was named the Aphanosauria.

Histology of the long bones of Teleocrater indicates that it had moderately fast growth rates, closer to ornithodirans than crocodilians and other pseudosuchians.

[7] The ribs associated with the latter sacral vertebra bear processes that project backward and outward, which is only otherwise seen in Yarasuchus, Spondylosoma, and members of the dinosauriforms.

Like both Asilisaurus[9] and Marasuchus,[11] the front portion of the ilium is separated from the rest of the bone by a ridge that rises vertically from the top rim of the acetabulum.

[1] In terms of hindlimb proportions, Teleocrater is more similar to silesaurids, pseudosuchians, and early archosaurs than lagerpetids or ornithodirans, in that the metatarsus is not particularly lengthened with respect to the femur and tibia.

The fibula bears a long, twisted crest for the attachment of the iliofibularis, and the front edge of the top of the bone is expanded outwards.

It has a convex-concave joint with the astragalus that allows for free movement, a tuber on its surface that is tall, broad, and directed backwards, and its articulation with the fibula is distinctly rounded.

[2] He was the first to apply the name Teleocrater, derived from Greek teleos ("finished", "complete") and krater ("bowl", "basin"), in reference to the closed acetabulum of the animal.

[1] His initial thesis listed tanyura as the specific name of Teleocrater; later, in a 1967 overview of reptiles, he revised it to rhadinus, from Greek rhadinos ("slender", in reference to the bodyplan of the animal).

This bonebed contained at least three individuals of different sizes, represented by 27 bones, all of which were mixed in with the remains of an allokotosaurian; new elements not known previously included the maxilla, quadrate, braincase, axis, sacral vertebrae, humeri, ischia, and calcaneum.

The sandstone is overlain near the top by reddish-brown and olive-grey siltstone in a digit-like pattern characteristic of point bars;[15] most of the vertebrate remains are concentrated within a 45 centimetres (18 in) section of this overlap.

This layer has been biostratigraphically correlated to Subzone B of the South African Cynognathus Assemblage Zone,[16] which is situated in the Anisian epoch of the Triassic period.

[1][9] Prior to the formalization of the definitions of these groups by Jacques Gauthier in 1986,[17] Teleocrater was variously considered as a rauisuchian, an ornithosuchian (Ornithosuchia being in fact synonymous with Avemetatarsalia), or a thecodont.

[6] In addition to Teleocrater, the similarly problematic Yonghesuchus, Dongusuchus, Spondylosoma, and Scleromochlus were also added to the dataset in order to test their relationships.

Nesbitt et al. named this group the Aphanosauria, defined as the most inclusive clade containing Teleocrater rhadinus and Yarasuchus deccanensis but not Passer domesticus or Crocodylus niloticus.

[1] Proterosuchidae Erythrosuchidae Proterochampsia Pseudosuchia Pterosauria Lagerpetidae Marasuchus Silesauridae Dinosauria Spondylosoma Yarasuchus Dongusuchus Teleocrater The inclusion of Scleromochlus altered the topology obtained to varying extents, although both analyses recovered it as an avemetatarsalian.

This demonstrates that the evolution of ankle morphology in avemetatarsalians is more complex than previously thought, and led Nesbitt et al. to conclude that the strict "crocodile-normal"/"advanced mesotarsal" dichotomy is reductionist.

The dense vasularization, anastomosis in the humerus, and disorganization of osteocytes indicates a growth rate higher than more basal archosaurs[24] and comparable to silesaurids,[25][26] but less than that of Nyasasaurus,[7] pterosaurs, and dinosaurs.