"Crocodylus" acer

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"Crocodylus" acer
Temporal range: Eocene, 56–53  Ma [1]
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Crocodylus acer.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Order: Crocodilia
Species:† "Crocodylus" acer
Cope, 1882
Binomial name
†"Crocodylus" acer

"Crocodylus" acer is an extinct species of crocodyloid from the Eocene of Utah. A single well preserved skull was described by paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1882 and remains the only known fossil of the species. It was found from the Wasatchian-age Green River Formation. "C." acer had a long, narrow snout and a low, flattened skull. [2]

Some postcranial bones have been attributed to "C." acer but they have more recently been suggested to belong to the related species "C." affinis . [3] Although they were first placed in the genus Crocodylus , "C." acer and "C." affinis are not crown crocodiles. Recent studies place them as early members of Crocodyloidea, only distantly related to Crocodylus. Although it represents a distinct genus, a generic name has not yet been proposed for "C." acer.

Phylogeny

A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data established the inter-relationships within Crocodilia, [1] which was expanded upon in 2021 by Hekkala et al. using paleogenomics by extracting DNA from the extinct Voay . [4]

The below cladogram shows the results of the latest studies, which placed "C." acer outside of Crocodyloidea, as more basal than Longirostres (the combined group of crocodiles and gavialids). [1]

Crocodylia

References

  1. 1 2 3 Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B . 285 (1881). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1071 . PMC   6030529 . PMID   30051855.
  2. ↑ Mook, C.C. (1921). "The skull of Crocodilus acer Cope". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 44 (11): 117–121.
  3. ↑ Brochu, C. A. (2000). "Phylogenetic relationships and divergence timing of Crocodylus based on morphology and the fossil record". Copeia. 2000 (3): 657–673. doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2000)000[0657:pradto]2.0.co;2.
  4. ↑ Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 505. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0 . ISSN   2399-3642. PMC   8079395 . PMID   33907305.
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