Iharkutosuchus

Iharkutosuchus ("Iharkút crocodile", after where it was found) is an extinct genus of basal eusuchian crocodyliform. Its fossils have been found in the Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Csehbánya Formation in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary.[2]

Iharkutosuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous: Santonian,
Holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Metasuchia
Clade: Neosuchia
Clade: Eusuchia
Family: Hylaeochampsidae
Genus: Iharkutosuchus
Ősi et al., 2007
Type species
Iharkutosuchus makadii
Ősi et al., 2007

Description

It is based on MTM 2006.52.1, a nearly complete skull, and several other partial skulls, isolated skull bones, and numerous teeth are also known. Iharkutosuchus was a small crocodyliform (skull length 11.1 centimetres (4.4 in), estimated body length 0.8 metres (2.6 ft)). Its skull was low, and the snout was short. Iharkutosuchus is unusual in its heterodonty: some of its teeth were complex and multicusped, like mammal teeth. The structure of the skull indicates that it could grind food with a mobile lower jaw, and together with the teeth suggest a diet of fibrous plant material.[2][3]

Classification

The genus was described in 2007 by Attila Ősi and colleagues. The type species is I. makadii, named for László Makádi.[2] A 2011 phylogenetic study recovered Iharkutosuchus as a member of Hylaeochampsidae, a group of basal eusuchians, as shown in the cladogram below.[4]

Eusuchia

Hylaeochampsa vectiana

Iharkutosuchus

Pietraroiasuchus ormezzanoi

Pachycheilosuchus trinquei

Allodaposuchus

Crocodylia

References

  1. Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
  2. Ősi, Attila; Clark, James M.; Weishampel, David B. (2007). "First report on a new eusuchian crocodyliform with multicusped teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 243 (2): 169–177. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2007/0243-0169.
  3. Ősi, Attila; Weishampel, David B. (2009). "Jaw mechanism and dental function in the Late Cretaceous basal eusuchian Iharkutosuchus". Journal of Morphology. 270 (8): 903–920. doi:10.1002/jmor.10726. PMID 19206154.
  4. Buscalioni, A.D.; Piras, P.; Vullo, R.; Signore, M.; Barbera, C. (2011). "Early eusuchia crocodylomorpha from the vertebrate-rich Plattenkalk of Pietraroia (Lower Albian, southern Apennines, Italy)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S199–S227. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00718.x.


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