Cargando…

New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles

We describe the basal mesoeucrocodylian Burkesuchus mallingrandensis nov. gen. et sp., from the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) Toqui Formation of southern Chile. The new taxon constitutes one of the few records of non-pelagic Jurassic crocodyliforms for the entire South American continent. Burkesuchus w...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Novas, Fernando E., Agnolin, Federico L., Lio, Gabriel L., Rozadilla, Sebastián, Suárez, Manuel, de la Cruz, Rita, de Souza Carvalho, Ismar, Rubilar-Rogers, David, Isasi, Marcelo P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298593/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34294766
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93994-z
_version_ 1783726097777557504
author Novas, Fernando E.
Agnolin, Federico L.
Lio, Gabriel L.
Rozadilla, Sebastián
Suárez, Manuel
de la Cruz, Rita
de Souza Carvalho, Ismar
Rubilar-Rogers, David
Isasi, Marcelo P.
author_facet Novas, Fernando E.
Agnolin, Federico L.
Lio, Gabriel L.
Rozadilla, Sebastián
Suárez, Manuel
de la Cruz, Rita
de Souza Carvalho, Ismar
Rubilar-Rogers, David
Isasi, Marcelo P.
author_sort Novas, Fernando E.
collection PubMed
description We describe the basal mesoeucrocodylian Burkesuchus mallingrandensis nov. gen. et sp., from the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) Toqui Formation of southern Chile. The new taxon constitutes one of the few records of non-pelagic Jurassic crocodyliforms for the entire South American continent. Burkesuchus was found on the same levels that yielded titanosauriform and diplodocoid sauropods and the herbivore theropod Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, thus expanding the taxonomic composition of currently poorly known Jurassic reptilian faunas from Patagonia. Burkesuchus was a small-sized crocodyliform (estimated length 70 cm), with a cranium that is dorsoventrally depressed and transversely wide posteriorly and distinguished by a posteroventrally flexed wing-like squamosal. A well-defined longitudinal groove runs along the lateral edge of the postorbital and squamosal, indicative of a anteroposteriorly extensive upper earlid. Phylogenetic analysis supports Burkesuchus as a basal member of Mesoeucrocodylia. This new discovery expands the meagre record of non-pelagic representatives of this clade for the Jurassic Period, and together with Batrachomimus, from Upper Jurassic beds of Brazil, supports the idea that South America represented a cradle for the evolution of derived crocodyliforms during the Late Jurassic.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8298593
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82985932021-07-27 New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles Novas, Fernando E. Agnolin, Federico L. Lio, Gabriel L. Rozadilla, Sebastián Suárez, Manuel de la Cruz, Rita de Souza Carvalho, Ismar Rubilar-Rogers, David Isasi, Marcelo P. Sci Rep Article We describe the basal mesoeucrocodylian Burkesuchus mallingrandensis nov. gen. et sp., from the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) Toqui Formation of southern Chile. The new taxon constitutes one of the few records of non-pelagic Jurassic crocodyliforms for the entire South American continent. Burkesuchus was found on the same levels that yielded titanosauriform and diplodocoid sauropods and the herbivore theropod Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, thus expanding the taxonomic composition of currently poorly known Jurassic reptilian faunas from Patagonia. Burkesuchus was a small-sized crocodyliform (estimated length 70 cm), with a cranium that is dorsoventrally depressed and transversely wide posteriorly and distinguished by a posteroventrally flexed wing-like squamosal. A well-defined longitudinal groove runs along the lateral edge of the postorbital and squamosal, indicative of a anteroposteriorly extensive upper earlid. Phylogenetic analysis supports Burkesuchus as a basal member of Mesoeucrocodylia. This new discovery expands the meagre record of non-pelagic representatives of this clade for the Jurassic Period, and together with Batrachomimus, from Upper Jurassic beds of Brazil, supports the idea that South America represented a cradle for the evolution of derived crocodyliforms during the Late Jurassic. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-07-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8298593/ /pubmed/34294766 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93994-z Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Novas, Fernando E.
Agnolin, Federico L.
Lio, Gabriel L.
Rozadilla, Sebastián
Suárez, Manuel
de la Cruz, Rita
de Souza Carvalho, Ismar
Rubilar-Rogers, David
Isasi, Marcelo P.
New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title_full New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title_fullStr New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title_full_unstemmed New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title_short New transitional fossil from late Jurassic of Chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
title_sort new transitional fossil from late jurassic of chile sheds light on the origin of modern crocodiles
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298593/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34294766
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93994-z
work_keys_str_mv AT novasfernandoe newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT agnolinfedericol newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT liogabriell newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT rozadillasebastian newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT suarezmanuel newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT delacruzrita newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT desouzacarvalhoismar newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT rubilarrogersdavid newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles
AT isasimarcelop newtransitionalfossilfromlatejurassicofchileshedslightontheoriginofmoderncrocodiles