Prehistoric Crocodiles

[Ngala]

New Crocodyliforms from Southwestern Europe and Definition of a Diverse Clade of European Late Cretaceous Basal Eusuchians
Lohuecosuchus megadontos Narváez et al., 2015

*This image is copyright of its original author

Fig 2. Skull HUE-04498, holotype of Lohuecosuchus megadontos gen. et sp. nov.
(A, B) Dorsal views. (C, D) Ventral views. A and C, photographs of the specimen. B and D, interpretative drawings. Sutures are figured with plain lines. The dashed lines represent tentatively reconstructed sutures. The lined areas represent broken bones. Specimen from the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian site of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain).   show less

Abstract:
"The late Campanian-early Maastrichtian site of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain) has provided a set of well-preserved crocodyliform skull and lower jaw remains, which are described here and assigned to a new basal eusuchian taxon, Lohuecosuchus megadontos gen. et sp. nov. The reevaluation of a complete skull from the synchronous site of Fox-Amphoux (Department of Var, France) allows us to define a second species of this new genus. Phylogenetic analysis places Lohuecosuchus in a clade exclusively composed by European Late Cretaceous taxa. This new clade, defined here as Allodaposuchidae, is recognized as the sister group of Hylaeochampsidae, also comprised of European Cretaceous forms. Allodaposuchidae and Hylaeochampsidae are grouped in a clade identified as the sister group of Crocodylia, the only crocodyliform lineage that reaches our days. Allodaposuchidae shows a vicariant distribution pattern in the European Late Cretaceous archipelago, with several Ibero-Armorican forms more closely related to each other than with to Romanian Allodaposuchus precedens." Reply