Musturzabalsuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, ? | |
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Holotype jaw of a Musturzabalsuchus (bottom) next to a skull of a Crocodylus (top) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Clade: | † Allodaposuchidae |
Genus: | † Musturzabalsuchus Buscalioni et al., 1997 |
Species: | †M. buffetauti |
Binomial name | |
†Musturzabalsuchus buffetauti Buscalioni et al., 1997 | |
Musturzabalsuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodyliform. The type and only species is Musturzabalsuchus buffetauti.
The generic name means "broadened rostrum crocodile", with "Musturzabal" meaning "broadened rostrum" in Basque and "suchus" meaning "crocodile" in Greek. The type and only species is M. buffetauti, named after the French paleoherpetologist Eric Buffetaut.
The material first assigned to Musturzabalsuchus in 1997 has been found from the locality of Laño in Condado de Treviño, northern Spain. [1] Although dating back to the Late Cretaceous, the exact age of the strata in which material of Musturzabalsuchus occurs in the locality is not known: it is either Late Campanian or very Early Maastrichtian. [2] Despite the unusually high quantity of remains belonging to the genus, the only skeletal elements known from Musturzabalsuchus are the maxilla and mandible. Some fragments of these bones have been found from the locality of Armuña in the province of Segovia that were previously referred to an unnamed trematochampsid. [3] Like the holotype and paratype material found from Laño, these fossils, known collectively as UPUAM-502, are Campano-Maastrichtian in age. [1] Another specimen (MHNM 10834.0) from the Fuvelian Lignites of France has been referred to Musturzabalsuchus in 1999. [4] However, the characteristics used to assign the material to better-known specimens of Musturzabalsuchus from Spain were questioned in a later 2008 study. [5] Material from Musturzabalsuchus has been found more recently from Valencia, Spain, being slightly older in age than specimens from other localities, dating back to the Early or Middle Campanian. [6]
Musturzabalsuchus was initially assigned to Alligatoroidea on the basis of several characters, including a lateral displacement of the foramen aereum of the articular. Additionally, the enlarged fourth mandibular tooth occludes into a pit in the rostrum. [7] Only the latter feature is present in the more derived alligatorids, and thus it is excluded from the family. [7] The pit that the fourth mandibular occludes into is placed posterior to the last premaxillary tooth, similar to what is seen in "Diplocynodon" hantoniensis, another early alligatoroid. A figure used in an 1869 study by P. Matheron of crocodylian remains from the Fuveau Lignites (illustration) pictured a mandible similar in profile to that of Musturzabalsuchus, but was labeled as belonging to the crocodylian Crocodilus affuvelensis. [8] In 1997 it was suggested that due to this apparent similarity, along with the vagueness of descriptions in the 1869 paper and the loss of the syntype, that C. affuvelensis could be reassigned to Musturzabalsuchus, although it was also acknowledged that the lack of posterior cranial material in the genus made detailed comparisons difficult. [1] A recent 2008 study on Matheron's specimens concluded that they belonged to a new genus distinct from Crocodylus and different from Musturzabalsuchus, named Massaliasuchus . [5]
Recent phylogenetic studies now recover Musturzabalsuchus as a member of Allodaposuchidae, outside Alligatoroidea. [9] [10] However, Musturzabalsuchus is usually omitted from phylogenetic analyses due to the lack of sufficient anatomical information. [10]
Musturzabalsuchus and Acynodon , a contemporary crocodilian also common from Laño, are thought to have been closely related to Paleolaurasian alligatoroids. The latter genus is the only taxon not known from North America to be related to the more derived Late Cretaceous tribodont alligatorids. It is clear that Musturzabalsuchus was endemic to Europe, and was most likely restricted to Ibero-Armorica Island, [11] [12] as the genus is absent from Northern and Eastern European localities from which other alligatoroid fossils have been found. [1]
The family Alligatoridae of crocodylians includes alligators, caimans and their extinct relatives.
Pyroraptor is an extinct genus of paravian dinosaur, probably a dromaeosaurid or unenlagiid, from the Late Cretaceous Ibero-Armorican island, of what is now southern France and northern Spain. It lived during the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian stages, approximately 70.6 million years ago. It is known from a single partial specimen that was found in Provence in 1992, after a forest fire. The animal was named Pyroraptor olympius by Allain and Taquet in 2000.
Rhabdodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in Europe approximately 70-66 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. It is similar in build to a very robust "hypsilophodont", though all modern phylogenetic analyses find this to be an unnatural grouping, and Rhabdodon to be a basal member of Iguanodontia. It was large amongst its relatives, measuring 4 m (13 ft) long and weighing 250 kg (550 lb), with some specimens possibly reaching up to 6 m (20 ft) long.
Allodaposuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyliforms that lived in what is now southern Europe during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. Although generally classified as a non-crocodylian eusuchian crocodylomorph, it is sometimes placed as one of the earliest true crocodylians. Allodaposuchus is one of the most common Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs from Europe, with fossils known from Romania, Spain, and France.
Diplocynodon is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian that lived during the Paleocene to Middle Miocene in Europe. Some species may have reached lengths of 3 metres (9.8 ft), while others probably did not exceed 1 metre (3.3 ft). They are almost exclusively found in freshwater environments. The various species are thought to have been opportunistic aquatic predators.
Leidyosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It was named in 1907 by Lawrence Lambe, and the type species is L. canadensis. It is known from a number of specimens from the middle Campanian age Dinosaur Park Formation. It was a medium-sized alligatorid, with a maximum skull length greater than 40 centimeters (16 in).
Acynodon is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous, with fossils found throughout Southern Europe.
Massaliasuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodyliform that is known from fossils found in Santonian–Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous rocks of southeastern France.
Bottosaurus is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene of New Jersey, Texas, and possibly North Carolina and South Carolina. Two species are currently accepted, with a third requiring re-evaluation.
Brachychampsa is an extinct genus of alligatoroid, possibly a basal caiman. Specimens have been reported from New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, New Jersey, and Saskatchewan, though only those from Montana, Utah, and New Mexico are based on material sufficient to justify the referral. One specimen has been reported from the Darbasa Formation of Kazakhstan, although the species status is indeterminate for the fossil. The genus first appeared during the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous. Brachychampsa is distinguished by an enlarged fifth maxillary tooth in the upper jaw.
Dolichochampsa is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph. It is the type genus and only member of the family Dolichochampsidae. Fossils have been found in the Yacoraite Formation of Argentina and the El Molino Formation of Bolivia of Maastrichtian age. It had a distinctive slender snout. Because the material associated with the specimens is so fragmentary, its relationships with other eusuchians remain unknown. Jouve et al. (2020) assigned Dolichochampsa to Gavialoidea, making it the oldest known South American member of this clade.
Prodiplocynodon is an extinct genus of basal crocodyloid crocodylian. It is one of the only crocodyloids known from the Cretaceous and existed during the Maastrichtian stage. The only species of Prodiplocynodon is the type species P. langi from the Lance Formation of Wyoming, known only from a single holotype skull lacking the lower jaw.
Stangerochampsa is an extinct genus of globidontan alligatoroid, possibly an alligatorine or a stem-caiman, from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It is based on RTMP.86.61.1, a skull, partial lower jaws, and partial postcranial skeleton discovered in the late Campanian–early Maastrichtian-age Horseshoe Canyon Formation. Stangerochampsa was described in 1996 by Wu and colleagues. The type species is S. mccabei. The generic name honors the Stanger family, the owners of the ranch where the specimen was found, and the species name honors James Ross McCabe, who discovered, collected, and prepared it. Stangerochampsa is described as "small to medium–sized"; the type skull is 20.0 centimetres (7.9 in) long from the tip of the snout to the occipital condyle, and is 13.0 centimetres (5.1 in) wide at its greatest, while the thigh bone is 14.2 centimetres (5.6 in) long. It had heterodont dentition, with large crushing teeth at the rear of the jaws.
Ischyrochampsa is an extinct monospecific genus of Late Cretaceous crocodyliform belonging to the eusuchian clade Allodaposuchidae. Fossils of the type species I. meridionalis are late Campanian in age and were found in the commune of Saint-Estève-Janson in Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Material is also known from Spain. It was named and described in 1995, and it had an estimated length of over 4 metres (13 ft).
Arenysuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph from Late Cretaceous deposits of north Spain. It is known from the holotype MPZ ELI-1, a partial skull from Elías site, and from the referred material MPZ2010/948, MPZ2010/949, MPZ2010/950 and MPZ2010/951, four teeth from Blasi 2 site. It was found by the researchers José Manuel Gasca and Ainara Badiola from the Tremp Formation, in Arén of Huesca, Spain. It was first named by Eduardo Puértolas, José I. Canudo and Penélope Cruzado-Caballero in 2011 and the type species is Arenysuchus gascabadiolorum.
Allodaposuchidae is an extinct clade of eusuchians that lived in Europe during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian).
Lohuecosuchus is an extinct genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Spain and southern France.
Solemys is an extinct genus of stem turtle known from the Late Cretaceous of southern France and eastern Spain.
Agaresuchus is an extinct genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Spain. It includes two species, the type species Agaresuchus fontisensis, and Agaresuchus subjuniperus, which was originally named as a species of the related genus Allodaposuchus. However, it has been proposed that both species may instead belong to the genus Allodaposuchus.
Éric Buffetaut is a French paleontologist, author and researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique since 1976 where he is a Doctor of Science and Director of Research. Buffetaut is a specialist of fossil archosaurs, mainly dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and has published many books on paleontology. He is one of the major paleontologists to support the thesis of the fall of a meteorite as the main cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.