Goniopholis

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Goniopholis
Fossil range: Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous

Goniopholis simus from the Early Cretaceous of Germany

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Order:	Mesoeucrocodylia
Family:	Goniopholidae
Genus:	Goniopholis Owen, 1841

Species

G. crassidens Owen, 1841 (type)
G. simus Owen, 1878
G. baryglyphaeus Schwarz, 2002
G. lucasii (Cope, 1878)
G. stovalli Mook, 1964
G. gilmorei Holland, 1905
G. gracilidens (Owen, 1879) Salisbury, 2002
G. phuwiangensis Buffetaut & Ingavat, 1983

Goniopholis is an extinct genus of crocodilian that lived in North America, Europe and Asia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Being semi-aquatic it is very similar to modern crocodiles. It ranged from 2-4 metres in length, and would have had a very similar lifestyle to the American alligator or Nile crocodile. Goniopholis was closely related to the ancestor of extant crocodilians.

A Goniopholis at the Sam Noble Museum. Found in Oklahoma.

Skeleton of Goniopholis simus as found in the Iguanodon site in Bernissart.

Many species of Goniopholis have been described, G. crassidens lived during the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) of England. Goniopholis simus is from the Early Cretaceous of NW Germany; G. gilmorei and G. stovalli are from the Late Jurassic of North America, while G. baryglyphaeus is known from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Portugal making it the oldest known Goniopholis species. Other Late Jurassic species such as, G. phuwiangensis is known from NE Thailand, and G. lucasii from the Tithonian of Colorado (although may belong to a different genus, Amphicotylus). Nannosuchus gracilidens from the Early Cretaceous of England is a juvenile Goniopholis.

[edit] References

Buffetaut, E., and Ingavat, R., 1983. Goniopholis phuwiangensis nov. sp., a new mesosuchian crocodile from the Mesozoic of North-eastern Thailand. Geobios 16 (1): 79-91.
Holland, W. J. 1905. A new crocodile from the Jurassic of Wyoming. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 3 (3): 431-434.
Mook, C. C. 1964. New species of Goniopholis from the Morrison of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Geology Notes 24: 283-287.
Owen, R. 1878. Monograph on The Fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations, Supplement no. VII. Crocodilia (Goniopholis, Pterosuchus, and Suchosaurus). Palaeontological Society Monograph, p. 1-15.
Owen, R. 1879. On the Association of dwarf crocodiles (Nanosuchus and Theriosuchus pusilus, e. g.) with the diminutive mammals of the Purbeck Shales. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 35: 148-155.
Salisbury, S. W., Willis, P. M. A., Peitz, S. & Sander, P. M. 1999. The crocodilian Goniopholis simus from the Lower Cretaceous of north-western Germany. Special Papers in Palaeontology 60: 121-148.
Schwarz, D. 2002. A new species of Goniopholis from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Palaeontology 45 (1): 185-208.