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The Prehistoric Croc Thread- Anything crocodilian related

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Champsosaurus was most certainly aquatic- more so than crocodiles, even. It has even been suggested, at least for one of the species, that only the female was able to walk on land, whereas the male had weaker limbs and was unable to do so, being restricted to water his entire life.(Females would have retained the ability to walk on land because of egg laying).


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    Adam Khor wrote: »
    Champsosaurus was most certainly aquatic- more so than crocodiles, even. It has even been suggested, at least for one of the species, that only the female was able to walk on land, whereas the male had weaker limbs and was unable to do so, being restricted to water his entire life.(Females would have retained the ability to walk on land because of egg laying).
    Cool Khor! All 3 aquatic. Survival advantage? For heavy weights.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    The article has a HUGE error- it says Deltasuchus lived at the same time as T. rex, when in reality it lived about 95 million years ago, and T. rex 68-66 million years ago.
    Deltasuchus was about six meters long, the size of our largest Nile and saltwater crocodiles- bite marks indicate it fed on dinosaurs among other things. It is the first broad snouted, big game hunting crocodile known from that time and place (the others were long and narrow snouted, like gharials).
    http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/09/15/giant-dinosaur-eating-crocodile-discovered-in-texas.html
    Deltasuchus_motherali-novataxa_2017-Adams-Noto-Drumheller.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    This is very interesting. I remember reading many years ago about how caiman could do this, but apparently it's more widespread among crocodylians than we thought. This is not paleontology but has possible implications for dinosaurs and their thermorregulation abilities.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24579-6.pdf
    4979133206_cfee336c39_b.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    The finds show that Cuban crocodiles, although very restricted nowadays, were much more widespread during the Pleistocene.

    http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6920

    Cuban crocodiles are notorious for their aggressive temper and for being the most agile crocodile species on dry land.

    Cuban-Crocodile.jpg?fit=745%2C483&ssl=1

    Here's a painting of a Cuban crocodile attacking a ground sloth (also a flightless Grus cubensis crane).

    MF-3327-1-756x540.jpg


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Had a couple distinctive "horns":

    02724634.2018.1528450?journalCode=ujvp20

    DyKrZWYX0AESaW_.jpg

    It lived in Brazil during the Miocene, and was related to the gigantic Purussaurus, which was one of the largest crocodilians known from the fossil record:

    cs7_vnor.jpg

    150227011710_sp_cocodrilo_624x351_titoaureliano.jpg

    Today, most caimans are relatively small crocodilians- except for the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) which is the largest member of the family and the largest Amazonian predator nowadays. Acresuchus is believed to have been ecologically similar.

    13230151_1049382801806351_4231595413498432164_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ht=scontent.fssa7-1.fna&oh=98457da1e8886c96e592b2e77e3d8c91&oe=5C937614

    418198_269431843134788_1764811767_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ht=scontent.fssa7-1.fna&oh=0eb402caec645a68607eab18ed56b9f6&oe=5CA1E124

    21092013184645_N6KA57UZRW.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Pebas was the megawetland (sometimes called a lake, sometimes called a freshwater/brackish sea) that covered what is today the Amazon basin during the Miocene.

    https://phys.org/news/2019-02-giant-animals-amazonian-mega-wetland.html

    giantanimals.jpg

    It was the home of the notorious giant caiman Purussaurus, one of the largest crocodilians ever:

    latest?cb=20120626114659

    Purussaurus_7.jpg

    Purussaurus_4.jpg

    150227011710_sp_cocodrilo_624x351_titoaureliano.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Phytosaurs were superficially crocodile-like reptiles and occupied a similar niche during the Triassic. Most of the known species were freshwater-based but like crocodiles, it seems they did venture to sea- this new species being an example.

    https://www.livescience.com/65460-ancient-crocodile-like-animal-discovered.html

    aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwNS82MDgvb3JpZ2luYWwvTXlzdHJpb3N1Y2h1cy1pbGx1c3RyYXRpb24uanBnPzE1NTc1MjQwMjk=
    Researchers excavated the remains of four of these now-extinct sea monsters from the rocky slopes of the Austrian Alps. But even at 13 feet long (4 meters), these creatures — known as phytosaurs — weren't fully grown.
    The phytosaurs were only about 8 years old when they died, and they were "still actively growing," according to a bone analysis

    It should be noted that the largest phytosaurs, such as Rutiodon, Redondasaurus and Smilosuchus, could be as long as 8-12 m, making them comparable to the largest crocodilians and among the largest predatory reptiles of prehistory.

    C4TmVqCWEAY8956.jpg

    53006258_123088582162561_4817165406418416529_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.cdninstagram.com


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    It is but a tooth, but is interesting because until now, no juvenile Deinosuchus fossils had been described. The tooth came from an individual maybe less than one meter long.

    https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Peabody-Museum-of-Natural-History/volume-60/issue-1/014.060.0104/First-Record-of-a-Small-Juvenile-Giant-Crocodyliform-and-its/10.3374/014.060.0104.short

    Deinosuchus (formerly known as Phobosuchus) was one of the largest most formidable crocodilians known from the fossil record; it lived during the late Cretaceous in coastal waters of North America (specifically, the coasts of the shallow sea that split the subcontinent in two), and apparently could travel long distances by sea, as do some crocodiles today.
    Despite its crocodile-like appearance and tolerance for salinity, it was more related to caiman and alligators than to crocodiles proper.

    There's actual, solid evidence in the form of bite marks that Deinosuchus fed on large dinosaurs, among other things.

    restos-deinosuchus-formacion-kaiparowits.jpg

    Deinosuchus.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor




  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,912 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I can't add anything to this discussion, but I just wanted to comment that your thread title is wonderful. :D


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Regional East Moderators, Regional Midlands Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators, Regional North Mods, Regional West Moderators, Regional South East Moderators, Regional North East Moderators, Regional North West Moderators, Regional South Moderators Posts: 9,300 CMod ✭✭✭✭Fathom


    Why prehistoric larger than today?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Fathom wrote: »
    Why prehistoric larger than today?

    The more I think about this, the more difficult I find it to answer.

    It is not as easy as saying they started out big and shrank over time; in fact, the fossil record does not support this at all. The first crocodilians (I'm using crocodilian in the broad sense here) were small, and even when, eventually, you start getting giant forms (starting in the Jurassic period), the smaller forms are still more abundant and more diverse. This does not change at any moment in their history; gigantic crocs were the exception, not the rule.

    Of course if you separate crocodilians into two categories, one being modern ones and the other extinct ones, you'll find more giants in the latter, but only because it spans millions and millions of years. Some giant crocodilians did coexist, but not all; most are separated from one another by millions of years.

    That being said, it is true that some of the extinct giants grew considerably larger than today's crocodiles. IIRC the largest reliably measured saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus, usually considered the largest reptile in the world), was Lolong, who died in 2013 in captivity and was 6.17 m, and weighed over 1000 kg. There is some skeletal and anecdotal evidence of larger saltwater crocodiles in the wild; the very largest may plausibly grow to around 7 m.

    Compare this to some of the largest prehistoric crocodilians, such as Deinosuchus, Sarcosuchus, Purussaurus, Rhamphosuchus or Machimosaurus, which are estimated at 9-10 m (maybe 12 m for the very largest). Some of these giants have been estimated at 3, 5, even 10 tons. But they represent only a tiny fraction of the total of extinct crocodilian genera/species, which are often within the range of our living ones or smaller.

    Now there's something interesting I've noticed, which is that many of the prehistoric giants lived in conditions different from those of modern day crocodiles. For example, many of the giants were partially or fully marine (Deinosuchus, Machimosaurus, Piscogavialis, Toyotamaphimeia). Large size allows a marine animal to travel longer distances across the sea, with extra protection against other predators (sharks, etc) and the ability to spend long periods without feeding; insane weight is not an issue if you spend most of your life at sea.
    Many kinds of marine reptiles (ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs) tended towards gigantism. Even the saltwater crocodile, the largest of our days, is the one most likely to venture out to sea, and to travel long distances between islands, etc, although it can´t be considered a truly marine animal.

    As for the prehistoric giants known to have lived in freshwater, they are often associated with huge river or lake systems that do not exist today. For example, Sarcosuchus and Stomatosuchus lived in a huge delta where the Sahara desert is now. Purussaurus, Gryposuchus and Mourasuchus lived in what is today the Amazon basin but back then was a gigantic wetland or inland sea, at times connected to the ocean, and rich in huge aquatic prey. You only get these super giant crocodilians for as long as these huge water bodies exist- when they dry out or become reduced, the giant crocs dissappear.

    May as well mention that at least in the case of Sarcosuchus, there's been suggestion that it grew to a much faster pace than modern day crocodilians, possibly as a strategy to reduce its vulnerability to other predators (remember there were dinosaurs and other crocodile-like reptiles around), and so they reached larger sizes earlier than modern crocs, and kept growing afterwards for many, many years. Without humans to shoot them on sight, the big ones would've been practically safe from predation and may have lived for over a hundred years unmolested, unlike what happens with crocodiles today.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,454 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Fathom wrote: »
    These organisms evolved? Did not suffer extinction as many species of dinosaurs?
    Two land crocs , Quinkana and Pallimnarchus may have survived until humans arrived in Australia.

    Pallimnarchus was the size of a salty :eek:


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Two land crocs , Quinkana and Pallimnarchus may have survived until humans arrived in Australia.

    Pallimnarchus was the size of a salty :eek:

    One of the Quinkana species was about that size too. I think there's even a cave painting somewhere in Australia depicting it.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,454 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Fathom wrote: »
    Why prehistoric larger than today?
    Koolasuchus was a half ton amphibian with a similar lifestyle to crocs. Lived down in Antarctica back in the day.

    vtfawq79c7111.jpg
    https://i.redd.it/vtfawq79c7111.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Koolasuchus was a half ton amphibian with a similar lifestyle to crocs. Lived down in Antarctica back in the day.

    vtfawq79c7111.jpg
    https://i.redd.it/vtfawq79c7111.jpg

    It would appear that it took advantage of the low temperatures that prevented crocodilians from colonizing those antarctic river systems. As soon as the temperatures rise and crocodilian fossils start appearing in those regions, Koolasuchus vanishes. :(

    The closest thing we have to it today are the giant salamanders (Andrias) found in China and Japan. Also ambush predators, but at 1.5-1.8 m, nowhere near as large as their long extinct cousin.

    D_cndwTU8AIAbdD.jpg

    chinese-giant-salamander.jpg

    Andrias_japonicus_pair.jpg


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    Adam Khor wrote: »
    This does not change at any moment in their history; gigantic crocs were the exception, not the rule.
    Thanks for clarification Adam.
    Two land crocs , Quinkana and Pallimnarchus may have survived until humans arrived in Australia.
    Food chain competition?


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,454 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Fathom wrote: »
    Food chain competition?
    Sharks in the estuaries and rivers,
    Salties and fresh water crocs.
    And the giant lizard megalania running about the place too
    And a 10m snake, the Bluff Downs giant python ambushing at water holes.

    With some overlap in niches.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Reading up on Pallimnarchus and it seems like it may have been even bigger than salties.

    This is from a 2012 article reporting on a possible Pallimnarchus find:
    University of New South Wales palaeontologists who found the fragment of crocodile jaw state that this individual was at least eight metres long and there may have been others of its kind that were even larger, perhaps reaching the size of Sarcosuchus, a twelve metre long Crocodylian that lived during the Late Cretaceous geological period and preyed on dinosaurs.

    (Note that they make a mistake here, as Sarcosuchus lived in the early Cretaceous, not late Cretaceous)
    The fossil was discovered by undergraduate Bok Khoo from the University of New South Wales on July 10th, it is part of the lower jaw (dentary). The fossil bearing strata consists of several layers which represent ancient river deposits. The dig site is close to the current course of the Liechardt River and the sediment is disturbed when the water levels rise and this helps to expose new fossil finds. The river may help reveal fossil material but being close to the river does have its drawbacks. The location is known for its Saltwater and Freshwater crocodiles as well as sharks and sting rays. The field team have to be wary of attacks from extant crocodiles as they search for the fossilised remains of extinct ones.
    Gilbert Price, a palaeontologist with Queensland University has commented that the jaw bone represents a substantial individual, one crocodile that was very probably an apex predator in the region. The fossil has yet to be accurately dated, it belongs to either the Pleistocene or the earlier Pliocene Epoch. The Pliocene ended approximately 1.6 million years ago, the Pleistocene Epoch followed and lasted until approximately 10,000 years ago. The fossil is eroded, a result of the river action and the teeth have been lost but the tooth sockets which measure up to four centimetres in diameter indicate that this predator had very large, conical-shaped teeth.

    Professor Mike Archer of the University of New South Wales described the fossil as “weird” and he could not rule out that this fossil find could represent a new species.

    The bite marks of the largest known species, Pallimnarchus pollens, have been found on the bones of the giant marsupial Diprotodon, which grew as large as a modern rhinoceros and would've been the largest available prey:

    Diprotodon-size-compared-.jpg?itok=ZFkLZn9f


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2019/2602-mourasuchus-amazonensis

    fig-2-full.png

    mourasuchus-size.jpg

    Mourasuchus was a contemporary of the better known Purussaurus, and like it, a member of the caimanine group of the Alligatoridae family. It was also a giant, growing to maybe around 10, possibly up to 12 m long, but its small teeth and skull structure would suggest it was specialized in much smaller prey, maybe even by filter-feeding, fullfilling a role similar to that of the filter-feeding Stomatosuchus of the Cretaceous.

    This would've allowed it to coexist with the equally large Purussaurus and Gryposuchus without competing for food with them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    These little land crocodiles of the Cretaceous may have had a greater ability to vocalize than modern day kinds.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118304051?via%3Dihub

    1-s2.0-S0195667118304051-fx1_lrg.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Mystery of Mystriosaurus:

    https://www.sachspal.de/mystriosaurus/

    life-reconstruction-of-mystriosaurus.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    The so called "Crocodylus bugtiensis", a giant crocodilian found in Oliocene Pakistan fossil sites, has been renamed as Astorgosuchus bugtiensis, as it was found to be more distantly related to modern crocodiles than thought, and possibly closer to Asiatosuchus.

    This creature would've been around 7-8 m long, with very robust jaws and teeth. Its bite marks have been found on the bones of Paraceratherium/Indricotherium, formerly considered the largest land mammal of all times.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1671427?journalCode=ujvp20


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  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,454 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Adam Khor wrote: »
    This creature would've been around 7-8 m long, with very robust jaws and teeth.
    we've all seen a saltie yada, yada, yada , whatever

    Its bite marks have been found on the bones of Paraceratherium/Indricotherium

    It had a 30 tonne rhino on the menu :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Giant caiman Purussaurus mirandai had special adaptations to better support its weight on land; it would've been able to walk and move about like modern crocodilians despite weighing maybe up to 3 tons (Purussaurus brasiliensis was even bigger).

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50827002

    Purussaurus-mirandai-r.jpg

    22343222-7800355-An_ancient_crocodile_species_that_weighed_up_to_three_tonnes_had-a-8_1576572926340-c044.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=644,208&ssl=1


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Brazil's first ornithosuchid, Dynamosuchus. It would've been over 2 m long and is suggested to have been a scavenger (why not an opportunist like most meat eaters though?)

    https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/science/2020/02/rare-fossil-bone-crushing-crocodile-cousin-found-brazil

    01_dynamosuchuscollisensi.adapt.1190.1.jpg

    02_dynamosuchus.adapt.1190.1.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Giant teleosaurid remains found in Colombia.

    https://mostlymammoths.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/enormous-crocodylomorph-discovered-in-colombia-dirley-cortes/

    screen-shot-2020-02-24-at-5.22.19-pm.png?w=1200&h=800&crop=1

    Teleosaurids were a group of crocodylomorphs that roamed the oceans during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous. They include the largest known sea crocodile of all times (and largest crocodile of the Jurassic), Machimosaurus, which is believed to have reached 9-11 m long and was apparently quite widespread and long-lived as a genus. Bite marks of Machimosaurus have been found on the fossilized bones of sauropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic, but its long, slender jaws would suggest aquatic prey was the basis of its diet.

    The Colombian remains may belong to a Machimosaurus.
    Preserved for approximately 120 million years in a calcareous concretion, it was discovered in Villa de Leyva by Carlos Gonzalez. It is a partial fossil, albeit very well preserved. The state of the armoured plates (known as “osteoderms”), dorsal ribs, dorsal centra and metapodial elements indicate rapid burial shortly after death. The species of this fossil is unknown as neither teeth nor cranial elements were found. Several ammonites found in association with this fossil indicate its age, and the surrounding sediment suggests that when this crocodylomorph met its end, the area may have been a “a salt tidal flat depositional environment.”

    Studying the microscopic structure of the bone (“osteohistology”) provided fascinating insight into the life of this creature. The size of the bones discovered, as well as the density of blood vessels within those bones, indicates that this reptile was an enormous creature. But even the 9.6-meter estimate is conservative, because larger vertebrae for this specific animal may have existed, but they were not preserved in the concretion.

    Further osteohistological research revealed lines within the osteoderms. Much like the rings of a tree, the rings in a proboscidean tusk or information contained with fossil teeth, paleontologists can read these lines to infer whether this reptile experienced times of famine and hardship, as well as how seasons may have affected its level of activity or overall health.

    Unfused neurocentral sutures suggested the fossil was an adult, but not one that was fully mature at the time of its death.

    Machimosaurus_sp.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Fossil of small pholidosaur Crocodilaemus robustus found in France. The creature was not even a year old at the moment of death and measured around 56 cm. It would've lived at about the same time as Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus, in a shallow lagoon. Initially believed to be a juvenile, a deeper study of its osteology suggests it was actually fully grown.

    Pholidosaurs are the group of crocodile-like reptiles that eventually gave rise to the colossal Sarcosuchus imperator which could grow up to 11 m long or more.

    Article is in French:

    https://www.museedesconfluences.fr/fr/ressources/crocodile-fossile

    20015641_02_0.jpg?itok=uTGkN9DL


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Baurusuchids as top predators in Cretaceous Brazil?
    Theropod dinosaurs were relatively scarce in the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of southeast Brazil. Instead, hypercarnivorous crocodyliforms known as baurusuchids were abundant and probably occupied the ecological role of apex predators

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.13192

    Baurusuchids have been called "theropod mimics", as they didn´t have the powerful, crushing bite of modern crocodilians but instead a weaker bite but sharper, blade-like teeth much like the majority of carnivorous theropods, or modern Komodo dragons. They would've been more terrestrial and probably more active and agile than modern crocodilians.

    images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTHyn3S5fQGfaLPSzjGOXJ04veRPUY3rbIzs-ppgEouMbI1yAy7&usqp=CAU


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Cretaceous croc Bernissartia, which coexisted with Iguanodon, was near the base of the modern crocodile family tree, study suggests:

    https://www.naturalsciences.be/en/news/item/19011

    News_Bernissartia_fagesii_01_EN.jpg?itok=E_VQ22sc


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,454 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Adam Khor wrote: »
    Baurusuchids as top predators in Cretaceous Brazil?

    ...
    They would've been more terrestrial and probably more active and agile than modern crocodilians.
    Quinkana was fairly modern

    It's amazing to think that some people consider Australia as a place where everything is out to get you and yet the first humans there faced real monsters.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Quinkana was fairly modern

    It's amazing to think that some people consider Australia as a place where everything is out to get you and yet the first humans there faced real monsters.

    Indeed, including not just Quinkana but also the even larger Pallimnarchus, plus all the other non-crocodilian beauties!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Phytosaurs (Triassic reptiles that were not crocodilians but similar in ecology and body plan, having existed before true crocs) may have cared for their young, suggests fossil aggregation from India :

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1726361?journalCode=ujvp20

    3752067079_9fc16f3ab1.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Mysterious tracks from Korea, once believed to belong to a bipedal pterosaur, identified as those of 3 m long, bipedal crocodylomorphs- a first for the Cretaceous period!

    https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/ancient-crocodile-may-have-walked-on-hind-legs-just-like-a-dinosaur/

    featureimage-2-2e55273.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=940%2C399


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Adaptations of the thalattosuchians (sea crocodiles) from dinosaur times revealed by fossil scan:

    https://phys.org/news/2020-06-high-tech-ct-reveals-ancient-evolutionary.html


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    A crocodile from the Miocene of Africa, Crocodylus cecchiai, seems to be at the base of the American crocodile linneage, confirming that the four New World crocodiles (Orinoco, American, Cuban and Morelet's) are descended from African ones.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68482-5#disqus_thread

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    New Deinosuchus paper soon to be released will apparently put together everything we know about this giant alligatoroid, including new discoveries that show we've been reconstructing it wrong all these years. It wouldn´t look as crocodile-like as the original museum mounts, such as these:

    images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSyqlagyavofmRfevluC7xDwOIQSDiIZdk5Wg&usqp=CAU

    instead having a large overbite and bulbous nose somewhat reminiscent of the unrelated pholidosaur Sarcosuchus. It would've looked more like this:

    EeCeW-0XkAIn8Qp?format=jpg&name=small

    Although related to modern alligator and caiman, Deinosuchus (formerly also known as Phobosuchus) was tolerant of brackish and saltwater and is believed to have travelled across the Western Interior Seaway that split North America in half, being present in both the western and eastern coasts. There's good evidence that it fed on dinosaurs among other prey.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    The study on Deinosuchus is out. It confirms its identity as an alligatoroid, erects a new species (D. schwimmeri) and describes new material showing it had a long snout with a greatly enlarged nose and mysterious fenestrae of unknown function at the tip, although seemingly connected to the sinuses.

    The animal does seem to have had a super powerful bite and "banana-sized" teeth and there's direct evidence of its preying on dinosaurs. One could say its legend is untouched.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2020.1767638

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Juvenile Purussaurus (giant caiman from the Miocene) fed on ground sloth, evidence shows.
    https://www.tunisiesoir.com/science/researchers-discover-prehistoric-43ft-crocodile-with-more-powerful-bite-than-t-rex-23694-2020/

    https://www.meionorte.com/curiosidades/fossil-revela-que-crocodilo-tinha-a-mordida-mais-forte-ja-registrada-395992

    Researchers-discover-prehistoric-43ft-crocodile-with-more-powerful-bite-than-T-Rex-696x464.jpg

    An adult Purussaurus (which could grow up to 10 m long or more) was among the largest, if not the largest crocodilian known- had a bite 20 times as powerful as a great white shark's, and likely even more powerful than a T. rex's.

    150227011710_sp_cocodrilo_624x351_titoaureliano.jpg

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Ogresuchus furtatus ("stolen ogre crocodile") a Cretaceous croc from Spain, is finally described after seven years, having been stolen from the dig site and eventually recovered. It turns out to be the earliest and smallest known sebecid, member of a linneage that would survive the KT extinction and eventually give rise to formidable land predators with serrated, theropod-like teeth. The largest of the sebecids were around 6-7 m long (with even 9 m suggested for the Miocene Barinasuchus at one point).

    Interesting thing about Ogresuchus is that it was found at a dinosaur's nesting site, which strongly suggests dinosaur eggs and hatchlings may have been part of this cat-sized predator's diet.

    Article is in Spanish.

    https://mundo.sputniknews.com/ciencia/202009181092815174-un-fosil-robado-en-los-pirineos-cambia-la-historia-evolutiva-de-los-cocodrilos/

    1092814885_5:2:1905:967_768x0_80_0_1_f60282b89ee7394fc03ff924ffd3b6db.jpg.webp

    Descubierto-en-los-Pirineos-un-nuevo-cocodrilo-extinto-a-partir-de-un-fosil-robado.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    African crocodiles swam into the Mediterranean and colonized southern Europe.

    The article is in Spanish.

    Millions of years ago, several genera and species of crocodiles lived in Europe, and occassionally coexisted with each other. Among these, however, it was considered unlikely that the genus Crocodylus, of African origin, had ever lived in the Mediterranean.

    The remains found in the Italian regions of Gargano, Tuscany and Scontrone during the last decades however confirm that they did. Now, a study published by the Journal of Paleontology supports this with more fossils of three-meter long crocodiles found at the Valencian fossil site Venta del Moro, dug up by researchers of the University of Valencia between 1995 and 2006- and which they assigned at one point to the species Crocodylus chechhiai.

    Our comparisons show this material does not belong to the genera Duplocynodon- an alligatoroid genus similar to today's caiman- or Tomistoma- the false gharials-, the only other crocodilians known for the late Miocene of Europe.

    However, due to the fragmentary nature of the remains, the analysis of the skull bones, isolated teeth and osteoderms (bone plates) suggests they could belong to the species C. checchiai, as originally assigned, but its taxonomy is still unclear. In any case the morphology fits genus Crocodylus.

    The remains would be the first Crocodylus from the Iberian penninsula and support the expansion of this genus from Africa to Europe during the late Miocene. The discovery of two individuals rather than one indicates there was a population at the site (as opposed to a vagrant that ended up away from home).

    In their "conquest", these reptiles expanded particularly around the Mediterranean, as the remains have been found in Spain and Italy. All locations where crocodilians have been found were back then near the northern coastline of the Mediterranean, thus making it easy to access by crocodiles traveling by sea.

    They are likely to have inhabited the coasts of Murcia and Andalusia, and perhaps even Catalunya and the Balearic islands.

    But how did crocodiles arrive from the African coasts? The researchers suggest they swam from one continent to the next before Africa and Europe were connected. This idea would be supported by modern crocodile behavior, as they are good swimmers that can reach up to 32 km/h.

    An example is today's saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), which goes far into the open sea reaching islands and even continents, as has happened between Oceania and the south east of Asia. One needs only see how easily they have traveled to even the Solomon islands of the French Polynesia.

    But there are more clues that support the hypothesis. The anatomical similarities suggest Crocodylus checchiai, of Lybia and Kenya, is the ancestor of American crocodiles. This suggests crocodiles even crossed the Atlantic during the Miocene, explaining the presence of the genus in the New World.

    As such, in the case of the Venta del Moro specimens, swimming between Africa and Europe would not have taken them a particularly great effort.


    Cocodrilo.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Giant alligatoroid Deinosuchus was just as long as T. rex and twice as heavy:

    https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/when-deinosuchus-ruled-the-earth/

    Deinosuchus%2B2016%2BWitton%2Blow%2Bres.jpg


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