Stomatosuchidae

Stomatosuchidae is an extinct family of neosuchian crocodylomorphs. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing Stomatosuchus inermis but not Notosuchus terrestris, Simosuchus clarki, Araripesuchus gomesii, Baurusuchus pachecoi, Peirosaurus torminni, or Crocodylus niloticus.[1] Two genera are known to belong to Stomatosuchidae: Stomatosuchus, the type genus, and Laganosuchus. Fossils have been found from Egypt, Morocco, and Niger. Both lived during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The skulls of stomatosuchids are said to be platyrostral because they have unusually flattened, elongate, duck-shaped craniums with U-shaped jaws.[1] This platyrostral condition is similar to what is seen in the "nettosuchid" Mourasuchus, which is not closely related to stomatosuchids as it is a more derived alligatoroid that existed during the Miocene.[2][3]

Lower jaws of Laganosuchus thaumastos

Stomatosuchids
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian
skull material of the three known stomatosuchids
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Neosuchia
Family: †Stomatosuchidae
Stromer, 1925
Genera

Unlike Mourasuchus, stomatosuchids have jaws that are less strongly bowed. Additionally, the glenoid is rounded rather than cupped at the posterior end of the jaw, and the retroarticular process is straight rather than dorsally curving like in Mourasuchus and other extant crocodylians.[1]

The only existing specimens of stomatosuchids belong to the recently described genus Laganosuchus, which is known from two species, L. thaumastos and L. maghrebensis from the Echkar Formation in Niger and the Kem Kem Beds in Morocco, respectively. The genus Stomatosuchus is known only from a holotype skull collected from the Bahariya Formation in Egypt, which was destroyed in World War II with the bombing of the Munich Museum.[4] Because Stomatosuchus is known only from brief accounts by Ernst Stromer and Franz Nopcsa (1926) and no additional material has ever been found, the genus remains enigmatic.[4][5][6]

The genus Aegyptosuchus was once considered to be a member of Stomatosuchidae, but it is now placed within its own family, Aegyptosuchidae.[7]

References
  1. Sereno, P. C.; Larsson, H. C. E. (2009). "Cretaceous crocodyliforms from the Sahara". ZooKeys (28): 1–143. doi:10.3897/zookeys.28.325.
  2. Langston, W. (1966). "Mourasuchus Price, Nettosuchus Langston, and the family Nettosuchidae (Reptilia: Crocodilia)". Copeia. 1966 (4): 882–885. doi:10.2307/1441424. JSTOR 1441424.
  3. Aguilera, O. A.; Riff, D.; Bocquentin-Villanueva, J (2006). "A new giant Purussaurus (Crocodyliformes, Alligatoridae) from the Upper Miocene Urumaco Formation, Venezuela". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 4 (3): 221–232. doi:10.1017/S147720190600188X. S2CID 85950121.
  4. Stromer, E. (1925) "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 7. Stomatosuchus inermis Stromer, ein schwach bezahnter Krokodilier und 8. Ein Skelettrest des Pristiden Onchopristis numidus Huag sp.". Abhandlungen der königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse 30: 1–22.
  5. Nopcsa, F. (1926). "Neue Beobachtungen an Stomatosuchus". Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, Abteilung B: Geologie und Paläontologie. 1926: 212–215.
  6. Stromer, E. (1936) "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). VII. Baharije-Kessel und -Stufe mit deren Fauna und Flora. Eine ergänzende Zusammenfassung". Abhandlungen der königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse 33: 1–102.
  7. Carroll, R. L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. pp. 1–698. ISBN 0-7167-1822-7.


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