Iharkutosuchus

Iharkutosuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous: Santonian, 86.3–83.6 Ma[1]
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Holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Clade: Metasuchia
Clade: Neosuchia
Clade: Eusuchia
Family: †Hylaeochampsidae
Genus: †Iharkutosuchus
Ősi et al., 2007
Type species
†Iharkutosuchus makadii
Ősi et al., 2007

Iharkutosuchus ("Iharkút crocodile", after where it was found) is an extinct genus of basal eusuchian crocodyliform. Its fossils have been found in the Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Csehbánya Formation in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary.[2]

Description

It is based on MTM 2006.52.1, a nearly complete skull, and several other partial skulls, isolated skull bones, and numerous teeth are also known. Iharkutosuchus was a small crocodyliform (skull length 11.1 centimetres (4.4 in), estimated body length 0.8 metres (2.6 ft)). Its skull was low, and the snout was short. Iharkutosuchus is unusual in its heterodonty: some of its teeth were complex and multicusped, like mammal teeth. The structure of the skull indicates that it could grind food with a mobile lower jaw, and together with the teeth suggest a diet of fibrous plant material.[2][3]

Classification

The genus was described in 2007 by Attila Ősi and colleagues. The type species is I. makadii, named for László Makádi.[2] A 2011 phylogenetic study recovered Iharkutosuchus as a member of Hylaeochampsidae, a group of basal eusuchians, as shown in the cladogram below.[4]

Eusuchia

References

  1. ^ Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
  2. ^ a b c Ősi, Attila; Clark, James M.; Weishampel, David B. (2007). "First report on a new eusuchian crocodyliform with multicusped teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 243 (2): 169–177. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2007/0243-0169.
  3. ^ Ősi, Attila; Weishampel, David B. (2009). "Jaw mechanism and dental function in the Late Cretaceous basal eusuchian Iharkutosuchus". Journal of Morphology. 270 (8): 903–920. doi:10.1002/jmor.10726. PMID 19206154.
  4. ^ Buscalioni, A.D.; Piras, P.; Vullo, R.; Signore, M.; Barbera, C. (2011). "Early eusuchia crocodylomorpha from the vertebrate-rich Plattenkalk of Pietraroia (Lower Albian, southern Apennines, Italy)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S199 – S227. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00718.x.


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