Atoposaurid crocodyliforms from the Khorat Group of Thailand: first record of Theriosuchus from Southeast Asia

Lauprasert, Komsorn; Laojumpon, Chalida; Saenphala, Wanitchaphat; Cuny, Gilles; Thirakhupt, Kumthorn; Suteethorn, Varavudh

doi:10.1007/s12542-010-0071-z

Cited by 33 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The carinae are serrated, with regularly spaced denticles occurring approximately every 0.125 mm (i.e., 8 denticles per millimetre). The denticle morphology and cross-sectional profile closely resemble a maxillary tooth described by Lauprasert et al (2011) and referred to the atoposaurid genus Theriosuchus.…”

Section: Systematic Palaeontologysupporting

confidence: 56%

A middle Eocene mesoeucrocodylian (Crocodyliformes) from the Kaninah Formation, Republic of Yemen

Stevens¹,

Hill²,

Al-Wosabi³

et al. 2013

Geologos

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During the Cenozoic, the Arabian Plate separated from continental Africa and assumed a closer geographical relationship with Eurasia. As such, the vertebrate fossil record of the Arabian Peninsula has great potential for documenting faunal interchanges that occurred as a result of such tectonic events, with a shift from a primarily Afro-Arabian fauna in the Palaeogene to a more cosmopolitan fauna in the Neogene. Understanding of the sequence and timing of this faunal interchange has long been hampered by a lack of palaeontological data. Recently recovered fossils from the Middle Eocene Kaninah Formation of Yemen constitute the earliest Palaeogene record of continental vertebrates from the Arabian Peninsula, thereby offering a rare glimpse at the region's post--Cretaceous fauna. Here we describe fossil materials from the Kaninah Formation, a collection of dental and postcranial elements representing a mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliform of unclear affinities. The specimen exhibits ziphodont tooth morphology along with a biserial paravertebral shield and polygonal gastral osteoderms, consistent with certain mesoeucrocodylians (e.g., ziphodontan notosuchians). Yet the associated fragmentary anterior caudal vertebra, although badly abraded, preserves morphology suggestive of procoely. This vertebral type in combination with the dental and osteoderm morphology is much more taxonomically restrictive and consistent with the suite of characters exhibited by atoposaurids, a finding that would significantly extend that clade through the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary. Alternatively, given the relative paucity of information from the region during the Palaeogene, the combination of characteristics of the Kaninah crocodyliform may reflect a novel or poorly N.J. Stevens et al.

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Section: Systematic Palaeontologysupporting

confidence: 56%

A middle Eocene mesoeucrocodylian (Crocodyliformes) from the Kaninah Formation, Republic of Yemen

Stevens¹,

Hill²,

Al-Wosabi³

et al. 2013

Geologos

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“…The presence of cf. Theriosuchus in the Phu Kradung Formation also supports a European affinity for some of its faunal components (Lauprasert et al 2011).…”

Section: Palaeogeographic Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…In addition to the shark teeth described below, the site has yielded actinopterygian scales and teeth, turtle shell fragments, crocodile remains, including cf. Theriosuchus, theropod bones and teeth as well as a possible hypsilophodontid tooth (Cavin et al 2009;Lauprasert et al 2011).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shark faunas from the Late Jurassic—Early Cretaceous of northeastern Thailand

Cuny

Liard²,

Deesri

et al. 2013

Paläontol Z

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A revision of the freshwater shark fauna from the Phu Kradung Formation in NE Thailand allows the recognition of a new species of Acrodus, which represents the youngest occurrence of the genus and confirms its displacement in freshwater environments after the Toarcian. The rest of the shark fauna includes teeth of Hybodus sp., aff. Hybodus sp., hybodontid dermal denticles, Jiaodontus sp., Lonchidion sp. A, Lonchidion sp. B, Heteroptychodus cf. H. kokutensis and dorsal fin spines. The presence of Jaiodontus and of unusual hybodontid dermal denticles suggests a Jurassic age for most of the Phu Kradung Formation, whereas the presence of Heteroptychodus suggests an Early Cretaceous age for the top of the Formation. However, the age of the Phu Kradung Formation is still uncertain, with contradictory signals coming from palynology, detrital zircon thermochronology and vertebrate palaeontology. In any case, it appears that this is the oldest occurrence of the genus Heteroptychodus, and suggests a Thai origin for this genus, which may have replaced Acrodus in the Thai freshwater palaeoecosystems. Together with Acrodus, the presence of Lonchidion sp. A suggests some European affinities for the shark fauna from the Phu Kradung Formation.

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“…Atoposaurids comprise a clade of small-bodied terrestrial and semi-aquatic crocodyliforms (Owen, 1879;Joffe, 1967;Buscalioni & Sanz, 1990a;Thies, Windolf & Mudroch, 1997;Lauprasert et al, 2011). Historically, they were considered to be the sister group to Eusuchia (Joffe, 1967;Buffetaut, 1982), but are now recovered in all phylogenetic analyses as the basal-most members of Neosuchia, which includes crown group crocodylians (Benton & Clark, 1988;Buscalioni & Sanz, 1990b;Salisbury et al, 2006;Brochu et al, 2009;Pol & Gasparini, 2009;Adams, 2013;Sertich & O'Connor, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revision of the Late Jurassic crocodyliform Alligatorellus, and evidence for allopatric speciation driving high diversity in western European atoposaurids

Mannion¹

2017

Preprint

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Atoposaurid crocodyliforms represent an important faunal component of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Laurasian semi-aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems, with numerous spatiotemporally contemporaneous atoposaurids known from western Europe. In particular, the Late Jurassic of France and Germany records evidence for high diversity and possible sympatric atoposaurid species belonging to Alligatorellus, Alligatorium and Atoposaurus. However, atoposaurid taxonomy has received little attention, and many species are in need of revision. As such, this potentially high European diversity within a narrow spatiotemporal range might be a taxonomic artefact. Here we provide a taxonomic and anatomical revision of the Late Jurassic atoposaurid Alligatorellus. Initially described as A. beaumonti from the Kimmeridgian of Cerin, eastern France, additional material from the Tithonian of Solnhofen, south-eastern Germany, was subsequently referred to this species, with the two occurrences differentiated as A. beaumonti beaumonti and A. beaumonti bavaricus, respectively. We provide a revised diagnosis for the genus Alligatorellus, and note a number of anatomical differences between the French and German specimens, including osteoderm morphology and the configuration and pattern of sculpting of cranial elements. Consequently, we restrict the name Alligatorellus beaumonti to include only the French remains, and raise the rank of the German material to a distinct species: Alligatorellus bavaricus. A new diagnosis is provided for both species, and we suggest that a recently referred specimen from a coeval German locality cannot be conclusively referred to Alligatorellus. Although it has previously been suggested that Alligatorellus, Alligatorium and Atoposaurus might represent a single growth series of one species, we find no conclusive evidence to support this proposal, and provide a number of morphological differences to distinguish these three taxa that appear to be independent of ontogeny. Consequently, we interpret high atoposaurid diversity in the Late Jurassic island archipelago of western Europe as a genuine biological signal, with closely related species of Alligatorellus, Alligatorium and Atoposaurus in both French and German basins providing evidence for allopatric speciation, potentially driven by fluctuating highstand sea levels.

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Atoposaurid crocodyliforms from the Khorat Group of Thailand: first record of Theriosuchus from Southeast Asia

Abstract: We describe a partial crocodilian skull from the Mesozoic non-marine

Cited by 33 publications

References 31 publications

A middle Eocene mesoeucrocodylian (Crocodyliformes) from the Kaninah Formation, Republic of Yemen

A middle Eocene mesoeucrocodylian (Crocodyliformes) from the Kaninah Formation, Republic of Yemen

Shark faunas from the Late Jurassic—Early Cretaceous of northeastern Thailand

Revision of the Late Jurassic crocodyliform Alligatorellus, and evidence for allopatric speciation driving high diversity in western European atoposaurids

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