RE: Croc etymology

["Tracy L. Ford" <dino.hunter@cox.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of R.
Irmis
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 6:54 PM
To: abritton@wmi.com.au
Cc: Dinosaur Mailing List
Subject: RE: Croc etymology

Thanks for the citation, I'll get ahold of the paper.  GeoRef lists the
second citation, which is more likely, since there are multiple series of
C.R. Acad. Sci.

Regards,
Randall Irmis

Here's the etymology (ok, it's in French and I think I understand it)

Derivatio nominis: le nom generique vient du mot Mek, qui dans la langue
Lifou (Loyautes) designe le Grande Terre, et du Grec (in Greek), crocodile.
Le nom specifique fait alustion au caractere inattendu de la presence d'un
Crocodilien en Nouvelle-Caledonie.

So, I think it's the generic name is from the living language of Lifou
(Loyautes, a small island off the west coast of New Caledonia) (Which I
presume to be the native langue of the area? ok, I just took a stab at it)
and if anyone who knows French could please translate for us.

Genus: Mekosuchus BALONET & BUFFETAUT, 1987
Etymology:

Species: inexpectatus BALONET & BUFFETAUT, 1987
Etymology:

Holotype: NCP 06 a NCP 40

Locality: From Pindai Caves, New Caledonia, an Island off the cost of east
Australia.

Horizon:

Biostratigraphy:

Age: Holocene, Uppermost Quaternary Subera, Upper Cenozoic Era.

Material: Right dentary, teeth right jugal and quadratojugal, pterygoids,
left premaxilla, atlas and axis, caudal vertebra and dorsal vertebra.

And the reference is...

Balonet, J. G., and Buffetaut, E., 1987, Mekosuchus inexpectatus, n. g. n.
sp., Crocodilien nouveau de l'holocene de Nouvelle Caledonie: Compte rendu
hebdomadaire des seances de l'Academie des Sciences Paris, seire 2, n. 14,
p. 853-856.

Tracy L. Ford
P. O. Box 1171
Poway Ca  92074