Razanandrongobe sakalavae

[Marco Auditore <maaudito@tin.it>]

Dear listmember,

tomorrow will be possible receive the pdf of the following article on a new 
Middle Jurassic giant archosaur, Razanandrongobe sakalavae. The ref. and 
abstract are the following:

Maganuco S., Dal Sasso C., and Pasini G., 2006 - A new large predatory 
archosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar, with remarks on its 
affinities and paleobiology. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze 
Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milano, 147 (I): 19-51.

Abstract ­ Here we report on the finding of new vertebrate remains from the 
Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of the Mahajanga basin, NW Madagascar, that 
represent one of the largest predatory archosaurs from Gondwana. The 
remains consist of a fragmentary right maxilla bearing three teeth and 
seven isolated teeth that clearly belong to a single taxon. Although the 
scarcity of the remains renders
establishment of affinities difficult, the presence of a unique combination 
of features including a well developed medial shelf of the maxilla, rostral 
and lateral teeth respectively U-shaped and sub-oval in cross-section, and 
very large tooth denticles (1 per mm), allows us to erect a new taxon, 
Razanandrongobe
sakalavae. Additionally, the structure of the teeth, the peculiar wear of 
their enamel, and the morphology of the maxilla strongly suggest that 
Razanandrongobe sakalavae often crushed the bones of its prey.

Please contact S. Maganuco (simonemaganuco@iol.it) or C. Dal Sasso 
(cdalsasso@yahoo.com) for requiring the pdf (available in normal and high 
quality, 1,8 Mb and 8 Mb respectively).

Marco