Rukwasuchus
| Rukwasuchus Temporal range: middle Cretaceous, 100Ma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Family: | †Peirosauridae |
| Genus: | †Rukwasuchus Sertich & O’Connor, 2014 |
| Type species | |
| †Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu Sertich & O’Connor, 2014 | |
Rukwasuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid mesoeucrocodylian known from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation of southwestern Tanzania. It contains a single species, Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu.[1]
Discovery
Rukwasuchus was named by Joseph J. W. Sertich and Patrick M. O’Connor in 2014 and the type species is Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu. The generic name refers to the Rukwa Rift Basin, located in southwestern Tanzania, where the holotype of Rukwasuchus and other vertebrates were collected by the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, and suchus, Latinized from the Greek souchos, an Egyptian crocodile god. Rukwasuchus is known solely from its holotype, a well-preserved rear part of the skull, and some isolated teeth. It was collected form the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, dating probably to the early Cenomanian stage, approximately 100 mya.[1]
Description
The skull of Rukwasuchus possesses several autapomorphies which distinguished it from other crocodyliforms. These include the presence of a mediolaterally narrow, elongate, and septate internal narial fenestra located anteriorly on the pterygoid, the presence of a markedly depressed posterior border of the parietal that excludes the supraoccipital from the dorsal cranial table, and a ventrally directed descending process of the postorbital with a well-developed posteroventral process. The morphology of the skull and isolated teeth suggests close relations to the peirosaurid Hamadasuchus rebouli from the middle Cretaceous Kem Kem Beds of Morocco. A phylogenetic analysis of Crocodyliformes supports a close relationship between Rukwasuchus and other African members of Trematochampsidae, e.g. Hamadasuchus and Trematochampsa, that is positioned within a larger clade of Gondwanan peirosaurids. Rukwasuchus is the only known sub-Saharan peirosaurid from Africa, thus representing the only link between middle Cretaceous southern vertebrate faunas and much more abundant and taxonomically diverse faunas from northern Africa.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sertich, J. J. W.; O’Connor, P. M. (2014). "A new crocodyliform from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (3): 576. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.819808.
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