A pug-nosed crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar

BUCKLEY, G.A.; BROCHU, C.A.; KRAUSE, D.W.; POL, D.

NATURE

Macmillan Magazines Ltd.

Lugar: London; Año: 2000 vol. 405 p. 941 - 944

0028-0836

Although the image of crocodyliforms as “unchanged living fossils” is naive, several morphological features of the group are often thought to have varied only within narrow limits during the course of evolution.  These include an elongate snout with an array of conical teeth, a dorsoventrally flattened skull, and a posteriorly positioned jaw articulation, providing an incredibly powerful bite force.  We report here on an exquisitely preserved specimen of a new taxon from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar that deviates profoundly from this bauplan, possessing an extremely blunt snout, a tall, rounded skull, an anteriorly-shifted jaw joint, and spatulate, multicusped teeth reminiscent of those of some ornithischian dinosaurs.  This last feature implies that the diet of the new taxon described here may have been predominantly if not exclusively herbivorous.  A close relationship with notosuchid crocodyliforms, particularly Uruguaysuchus from the Late Cretaceous of Uruguay, is suggested by several shared derived features, and is supportive of biogeographic hypotheses indicating a link between Madagascar and South America during the Late Cretaceous.