Logo image
New Crocodyliforms from Southwestern Europe and Definition of a Diverse Clade of European Late Cretaceous Basal Eusuchians
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

New Crocodyliforms from Southwestern Europe and Definition of a Diverse Clade of European Late Cretaceous Basal Eusuchians

Iván Narváez, Christopher A Brochu, Fernando Escaso, Adán Pérez-García and Francisco Ortega
PloS one, Vol.10(11), pp.e0140679-e0140679
2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140679
PMCID: PMC4633049
PMID: 26535893
url
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140679View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

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.
Animals Dinosaurs - classification Phylogeny Europe Skull - anatomy & histology Fossils

Details

Metrics

Logo image