Gondwanasuchus, new baurusuchid crocodyliform from Late Cretaceous of Brazil.

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


A new online paper:


Thiago da Silva Marinho , Fabiano Vidoi Iori, Ismar de Souza Carvalho
& Felipe Mesquita de Vasconcellos (2013)
Gondwanasuchus scabrosus gen. et sp. nov., a new terrestrial predatory
crocodyliform (Mesoeucrocodylia: Baurusuchidae) from the Late
Cretaceous Bauru Basin of Brazil.
Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2013.03.010,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667113000591

Baurusuchids are among the most common and diverse crocodyliform
fossils from the Late Cretaceous Bauru Basin of Brazil. This inland
continental basin was the habitat of a rich crocodyliform fauna
containing five mesoeucrocodylian families, of which the Baurusuchidae
represents highly specialized predatory crocodyliforms of terrestrial
habits as indicated by their dental, cranial, and postcranial
features. The large size they achieved, together with likely predatory
adaptations, would suggest they competed and occupied theropod
ecological niches in the Bauru Basin. Here we describe Gondwanasuchus
scabrosus gen. et sp. nov., a medium-sized baurusuchid with a strongly
laterally compressed skull, bearing unique dentition with deep
apicobasal sulci and probably well-developed binocular vision. The
cranial and dental features in Gondwanasuchus suggest that this active
predator would have fed on small vertebrates and took the role of
small theropods in terrestrial guild. Gondwanasuchus is the most
distinctive baurusuchid known to date and enriches the knowledge on
these important Gondwanan terrestrial predatory crocodyliforms.