Navajosuchus

Navajosuchus
Temporal range: Paleocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Alligatorinae
Genus: Navajosuchus
Mook, 1942
Type species
Navajosuchus mooki
(Simpson, 1930 [originally Allognathosuchus mooki])

Navajosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian. Its fossils have been found in the Paleocene-age Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico (United States). It was named in 1942 by Charles C. Mook, and the original type species was N. novomexicanus. N. novomexicanus was based on AMNH 5186, a partial skull collected in 1913.[1] Later research showed that Navajosuchus novomexicanus was the same as the earlier-named Allognathosuchus mooki.[2] However, A. mooki may or may not belong to the genus Allognathosuchus, and if it does not, the name of the crocodilian would become Navajosuchus mooki.[3] Under whichever name is used, this animal would have been a generalized predator of the Nacimiento floodplains. It was the most common Nacimiento Formation crocodilian, found in both the Puercan and Torrejonian faunal assemblages.[4]

References

  1. Mook, Charles C. (1942). "A new fossil crocodilian from the Paleocene of New Mexico" (pdf). American Museum Novitates. 1189: 1–4.
  2. Sullivan, R.M.; Lucas, S.G.; Tsentas, C. (1988). "Navajosuchus is Allognathosuchus". Journal of Herpetology. 22 (1): 121–125. JSTOR 1564367. doi:10.2307/1564367.
  3. Brochu, Christopher A. (2004). "Alligatorine phylogeny and the status of Allognathosuchus Mook, 1921". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (4): 857–873. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0857:APATSO]2.0.CO;2.
  4. Lucas, S.G. (1992). "Cretaceous-Eocene crocodilians from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico". In Lucas, S.G.; Kues, B.S.; Williamson, T.E.; Hunt, A.P. San Juan Basin IV. New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook. 43. Socorro, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society. pp. 257–264. ISBN 99922-2-673-0.
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