A new crocodyliform from Zos Canyon, Mongolia

Title Variants

Alternative: Crocodyliform from Mongolia

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3445

By

Pol, Diego, 1974-

Norell, Mark A.
Mongolian-American Museum Paleontological Project.
Mongolyn Shinzhlėkh Ukhaany Akademi.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY American Museum of Natural History c2004

Notes

Title from caption.

"June 2, 2004."

Here we report on a new fossil crocodyliform from Cretaceous Redbeds in the Zos Canyon, Gobi Desert, Mongolia. This new taxon, Zosuchus davidsoni, is described based on the information provided by five specimens collected during expeditions of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences-American Museum of Natural History. Zosuchus davidsoni is identifiable by numerous characters, including a posteriorly extensive secondary palate that opens through a secondary choana bordered by the palatines and pterygoids near the posterior edge of the skull, and a lacrimal-premaxillary contact on the dorsal surface of the snout. The phylogenetic relationships of Zosuchus davidsoni are shown through a parsimony analysis in the context of Crocodyliformes. This new form is found to be a late-appearing basal crocodyliform, forming a monophyletic group with two other taxa from the early Cretaceous of China. Because of the basal position of Zosuchus within Crocodyliformes, the marked posterior extension of the secondary palate is most parsimoniously interpreted as a convergence with the derived condition of neosuchian crocodyliforms.

Subjects

Cretaceous , Crocodilians , Crocodilians, Fossil , Gobi Desert (Mongolia and China) , Mongolia , Paleontology , Phylogeny , Reptiles, Fossil , Zosuchus davidsoni

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3445 2004

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2004)445<0001:ANCFCM>2.0.CO;2
OCLC: 55539700