An unusual small-bodied crocodyliform from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland, UK, and potential evidence for an early diversification of advanced neosuchians
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The Middle Jurassic is a poorly sampled time interval for non-pelagic neosuchian crocodyliforms, which obscures our understanding of the origin and early evolution of major clades. Here we report a lower jaw from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Duntulm Formation of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK, which consists of an isolated and incomplete left dentary and part of the splenial. Morphologically, the Skye specimen closely resembles the Cretaceous neosuchians Pachycheilosuchus and Pietraroiasuchus, in having a proportionally short mandibular symphysis, shallow dentary alveoli and inferred weakly heterodont dentition. It differs from other crocodyliforms in that the Meckelian canal is dorsoventrally expanded posterior to the mandibular symphysis and drastically constricted at the 7th alveolus. The new specimen, together with the presence of Theriosuchus sp. from the Valtos Formation and indeterminate neosuchians from the Kilmaluag Formation, indicates the presence of a previously unrecognised, diverse crocodyliform fauna in the Middle Jurassic of Skye, and Europe more generally. Small-bodied neosuchians were present, and ecologically and taxonomically diverse, in nearshore environments in the Middle Jurassic of the UK.
Date Issued
2017-06-28
Date Acceptance
2017-03-17
Citation
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2017, 107 (1), pp.1-12
ISSN
1755-6910
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Start Page
1
End Page
12
Journal / Book Title
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Volume
107
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
COPYRIGHT: © The Royal Society of Edinburgh 2017
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Subjects
04 Earth Sciences
Geology
Paleontology
Publication Status
Published online