Late JurassicSunosuchus(Crocodylomorpha, Neosuchia) from the Qigu Formation in the Junggar Basin (Xinjiang, China)

The smallest eating the largest: the oldest mammalian feeding traces on dinosaur bone from the Late Jurassic of the Junggar Basin (northwestern China)

“…Vertebrate feeding traces are frequently preserved on bones and usually come in the form of punctures, scores and grooves. The only vertebrates from the Qigu Formation that fall within the size range of the traces described above are mammals (Pfretzschner et al 2005;Martin et al 2010), as well as squamates and one possible choristoderan (Richter et al 2010); however, the dentition pattern of squamates and choristoderans is incompatible with the arrangement of the bite marks described here. Both possess a homodont dentition with closely packed and irregularly spaced teeth in the upper and lower jaw, and therefore, they cannot be the producer of these traces.…”

“…Environmental conditions during the time of deposition have been interpreted as arid and highly seasonal (Ashraf et al 2010;Li et al 2014;Fang et al 2015Fang et al , 2016. The diverse vertebrate fauna of the Qigu Formation thus far comprises hybodont sharks, actinopterygian fishes, temnospondyl amphibians, mammals, xinjiangchelyid turtles, squamates and choristoderes, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, as well as sauropods, small and large theropods, stegosaurs and ankylosaurs among dinosaurs (Maisch et al , 2004a(Maisch et al , b, 2005Maisch and Matzke 2005, 2017Wings et al 2007;Schellhorn et al 2009;Martin et al 2010;Richter et al 2010;Augustin et al in press). The mammal assemblage is particularly rich and comprises five different taxa: the haramiyid Sineleutherus; two docodonts, Tegotherium and Dsungarodon; the stem zatherian Nanolestes; and an indeterminate amphilestid triconodont (Pfretzschner et al 2005;Maisch et al 2005;Martin et al 2010).…”

A re-evaluation of goniopholidid crocodylomorph material from Central Asia: Biogeographic and phylogenetic implications

“…Further specimens from Kyrgyzstan and the Junggar Basin were attributed to Sunosuchus sp. (Averianov 2000;Schellhorn et al 2009). If the relationships posited in the cladistic analysis are correct, then Sunosuchus miaoi is the only taxon to retain the generic name, as the type species of the genus.…”

“…Goniopholididae is an Early Jurassic to Late Cretaceous Laurasian group, with representatives from North America (Tykoski et al 2002), Europe (Salisbury et al 1999;Salisbury 2002;Schwarz 2002;Andrade et al 2011;Salisbury and Naish 2011), Central Asia (Efimov 1975(Efimov , 1988aMaisch et al 2003;Schellhorn et al 2009), and south-east Asia (Buffetaut and Ingavat 1980). The Central Asian taxa occupy an intermediate position geographically, and work on dinosaurs (Upchurch et al 2002) has already indicated the importance of this region in understanding the palaeobiogeographic history of terrestrial tetrapods.…”