Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-12T09:21:14.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Osteology and phylogenetic significance of Eosuchus minor (Marsh, 1870) new combination, a longirostrine crocodylian from the Late Paleocene of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Christopher A. Brochu
Christopher A. Brochu*
Affiliation:
Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Eosuchus minor (Marsh, 1870) is based on skeletal fragments from the Late Paleocene or Early Eocene of New Jersey, but more complete material from the Late Paleocene of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia permits a detailed description and systematic assessment. It is a slender-snouted form and can be distinguished from most other crocodylians on the basis of an enlarged quadrate foramen aereum; a distinct W-shaped rugosity along the ventral margin of the basioccipital tuber; a prominent crest on the lateral braincase wall encompassing portions of the quadrate, pterygoid, and basisphenoid, forming the lateral wall of the lateral eustachian canal at its ventralmost extent; and arrangement of dentary alveoli into couplets. Specimens of larger crocodylians from the same units may represent either the adult form of E. minor or a separate taxon. The enlarged quadrate foramen aereum, couplet arrangement of dentary alveoli, and basioccipital tuber shape are shared with Eosuchus lerichei from the Late Paleocene of Europe. Eosuchus lies within Gavialoidea crownward of the basal forms Thoracosaurus and Eothoracosaurus. The braincase of Eosuchus is intermediate between that of Thoracosaurus and that of Gavialis; the basisphenoid retains a short (but externally visible) descending lamina, but the basisphenoid is also anteroposteriorly expanded at the level of the median eustachian foramen.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 162 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, L. 1849. Remarks on crocodiles of the green sand of New Jersey and on Atlantochelys. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 4:169.Google Scholar
Andrews, C. W. 1906. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayûm, Egypt. British Museum (Natural History), London, 324 p.Google Scholar
Auffenberg, W. 1954. Additional specimens of Gavialosuchus americanus (Sellards) from a new locality in Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences, 17:185–209.Google Scholar
Berg, D. E. 1969. Charactosuchus kugleri, eine neue Krokodilart aus dem Eozän von Jamaica. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, 62:731–735.Google Scholar
Blainville, H. M. 1835. Système d'Herpetoloie. Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A. 1997a. Morphology, fossils, divergence timing, and the phylogenetic relationships of Gavialis. Systematic Biology, 46:479–522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brochu, C. A. 1997b. A review of “Leidyosuchus“ (Crocodyliformes, Eusuchia) from the Cretaceous through Eocene of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17:679–697.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A. 1999. Phylogeny, systematics, and historical biogeography of Alligatoroidea. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir, 6:9–100.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A. 2001. Congruence between physiology, phylogenetics, and the fossil record on crocodylian historical biogeography, p. 9–28. In Grigg, G., Seebacher, F., and Franklin, C. E. (eds.), Crocodilian Biology and Evolution. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Sydney.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A. 2003. Phylogenetic approaches toward crocodylian history. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 31:357–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brochu, C. A. 2004. A new gavialoid crocodylian from the Late Cretaceous of eastern North America and the phylogenetic relationships of thoracosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:610–633.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A., and Gingerich, P. D. 2000. New tomistomine crocodylian from the middle Eocene (Bartonian) of Wadi Hitan, Fayum Province, Egypt. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 30:251–268.Google Scholar
Brochu, C. A., and Rincon, A. D. 2004. A gavialoid crocodylian from the Lower Miocene of Venezuela. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 71:61–78.Google Scholar
Browning, J. V., Miller, K. G., van Fossen, M. C., Liu, C., Pak, D. K., Aubry, M.-P., and Bybell, L. M. 1997. Lower to Middle Eocene sequences of the New Jersey coastal plain and their significance for global climate change. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X:229–242.Google Scholar
Buffetaut, E. 1982. Systematique, origine et évolution des Gavialidae Sud-Américains. Geobios, Memoire Special, 6:127–140.Google Scholar
Carpenter, K. 1983. Thoracosaurus neocesariensis (De Kay, 1842) (Crocodylia: Crocodylidae) from the Late Cretaceous Ripley Formation of Mississippi. Mississippi Geology, 4:1–10.Google Scholar
Clarke, W. B. 1895. Contributions to the Eocene fauna of the middle Atlantic slope. Johns Hopkins Circular, 15:3–6.Google Scholar
Cook, J. J., and Ramsdell, R. C. 1991. Macrofossils from the Vincentown Formation (Paleocene) of New Jersey. Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Sciences, 36:11–15.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1861. List of the Recent species of emydosaurian reptiles in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 12:549–550.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1867. The fossil reptiles of New Jersey. American Naturalist, 1:23–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869a. Remarks on Holops brevispinus, Ornithotarsus immanis, and Macrosaurus proriger. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1869:123.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869b. Synopsis of the extinct Batrachia, Reptilia, and Aves of North America. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 14:1–252.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869c. Synopsis of the extinct Reptilia found in the Mesozoic and Tertiary strata of New Jersey, p. 733–742. In Cook, G. H. (ed.), Geology of New Jersey. Office of State Geologist, Newark.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1872a. [Description of Holops pneumaticus]. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1872:11–12.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1872b. List of the Reptilia of the Eocene formation of New Jersey. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1872:17.Google Scholar
Cuvier, G. 1807. Sur les différentes espèces de crocodiles vivans et sur leurs caractères distinctifs. Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, 10:8–66.Google Scholar
de Kay, J. E. 1833. Observations on a fossil jaw of a species of Gavial, from West Jersey. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 3:156–165.Google Scholar
de Kay, J. E. 1842. Zoology of New York. White & Visscher, New York, 415 p.Google Scholar
Densmore, L. D. 1983. Biochemical and immunological systematics of the order Crocodilia, p. 397–465. In Hecht, M. K., Wallace, B., and Prance, G. H. (eds.), Evolutionary Biology. Vol. 16. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1883. Première note sur les crocodiliens de Bernissart. Bulletin de la Musée Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, 2:309–338.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1907. Les reptiles de l'Éocène Inférieur de la Belgique et des régions voisines. Bulletin de la Societe Belge de Géologie, de Paléontologie et d'Hydrologie, 21:81–85.Google Scholar
Erickson, B. R. 1998. Crocodilians of the Black Mingo Group (Paleocene) of the South Carolina Coastal Plain. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 88:196–214.Google Scholar
Erickson, B. R., and Sawyer, G. T. 1996. The estuarine crocodile Gavialosuchus carolinensis n. sp. (Crocodylia: Eusuchia) from the Late Oligocene of South Carolina, North America. Monographs of the Science Museum of Minnesota (Paleontology), 3:1–47.Google Scholar
Fredericksen, N. O. 1991. Midwayan (Paleocene) pollen correlations in the eastern United States. Micropaleontology, 37:101–123.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B. 1993. The Cretaceous/Tertiary mass extinction event in the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Mosasaur, 5:75–154.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B. 2002. Faunal changes across the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K-T) boundary in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of New Jersey; restructuring the marine community after the K-T mass-extinction event. Geological Society of America Special Publication, 356:291–301.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B., Parris, D. C., and Spamer, E. E. 1986. Paleontology, biostratigraphy, and depositional environments of the Cretaceous–Tertiary transition in the New Jersey Coastal Plain. The Mosasaur, 3:1–35.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B., Johnson, K. R., Gilmore, E., and Johnson, R. 1999. The Parlin Pit: Paleontology, stratigraphy, and depositional environments at a Cretaceous amber site in New Jersey. The Mosasaur, 6:97–103.Google Scholar
Gatesy, J., Amato, G., Norell, M., DeSalle, R., and Hayashi, C. 2003. Combined support for wholesale taxic atavism in gavialine crocodylians. Systematic Biology, 52:403–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gmelin, J. 1789. Linnei Systema Naturae. G. E. Beer, Leipzig, 1057 p.Google Scholar
Gürich, G. 1912. Gryposuchus jessei, ein neues schmalsnauziges Krokodil aus den jüngeren Ablagerungen des oberen Amazonas-Gebietes. Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten, 29:59–71.Google Scholar
Harshman, J., Huddleston, C. J., Bollback, J. P., Parsons, T. J., and Braun, M. J. 2003. True and false gharials: A nuclear gene phylogeny of Crocodylia. Systematic Biology, 52:386–402.Google Scholar
Hass, C. A., Hoffman, M. A., Densmore, L. D., and L. R. Maxson. 1992. Crocodilian evolution: insights from immunological data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 1:193–201.Google Scholar
Hay, O. P. 1930. Second bibliography and catalogue of the fossil Vertebrata of North America. Vol. 2. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publication, 390:1–1074.Google Scholar
Hecht, M. K., and Malone, B. 1972. On the early history of the gavialid crocodilians. Herpetologica, 28:281–284.Google Scholar
Holland, W. J. 1909. Deinosuchus hatcheri, a new genus and species of crocodile from the Judith River beds of Montana. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 6:281–294.Google Scholar
Holman, J. A. 2001. First report of an Eocene reptile fauna from Florida, USA. Palaeovertebrata, 30:1–10.Google Scholar
Hua, S., and Jouve, S. 2004. A primitive gavialoid from the Paleocene of Morocco. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:341–350.Google Scholar
Huxley, T. H. 1875. On Stagonolepis robertsoni, and on the evolution of the Crocodilia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 31:423–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iordansky, N. N. 1973. The skull of the Crocodilia, p. 201–260. In Gans, C. and Parsons, T. (eds.), Biology of the Reptilia. Vol. 4. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Kälin, J. A. 1931. Ueber die Stellung der Gavialiden im System der Crocodilia. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 38:379–388.Google Scholar
Kälin, J. A. 1933. Beiträge zur vergleichenden Osteologie des Crocodilidenschädels. Zoologische Jahrbücher, 57:535–714.Google Scholar
Kuhn, O. 1961. Die Familien der Rezenten und Fossilen Amphibien und Reptilien. Meisenbach, Bamberg, 79 p.Google Scholar
Lambe, L. M. 1907. On a new crocodilian genus and species from the Judith River Formation of Alberta. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 4:219–244.Google Scholar
Langston, W. 1965. Fossil crocodilians from Colombia and the Cenozoic history of the Crocodilia in South America. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 52:1–152.Google Scholar
Laurent, Y., Buffetaut, E., and Le Loeff, J. 2000. Un crane de thoracosaurine (Crocodylia, Crocodylidae) dans le Maastrichtien Superieur du sud de la France. Oryctos, 3:19–27.Google Scholar
Laurenti, J. N. 1768. Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatum cum Experimentatis Circa Venena et Antiodota Reptilium Austriacorum. J. T. de Trattnern, Vienna, 214 p.Google Scholar
Leidy, J. 1851. [Descriptions of a number of fossil reptiles and mammals]. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1851:325–328.Google Scholar
Leidy, J. 1852. [Descriptions of Delphinus conradi and Thoracosaurus grandis]. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 6:35.Google Scholar
Leidy, J. 1865. Cretaceous reptiles of the United States. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 192:1–135.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1869. Notice of some new reptilian remains from the Cretaceous of Brazil. American Journal of Science, 47:390–392.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1870. Notice of a new species of gavial, from the Eocene of New Jersey. American Journal of Science, 50:2–3.Google Scholar
Miller, H. W. 1955. Some Eocene reptiles from New Jersey. Notulae Naturae, 268:1–5.Google Scholar
Mook, C. C. 1921. Skull characters and affinities of the extinct Florida gavial, Gavialosuchus americana (Sellards). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 44:33–41.Google Scholar
Mook, C. C. 1925. A revision of the Mesozoic Crocodilia of North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 51:319–432.Google Scholar
Morton, S. G. 1844. Description of the head of a fossil crocodile from the Cretaceous strata of New Jersey. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 2:82–85.Google Scholar
Morton, S. G. 1845. Description of the head of a fossil crocodile from the Cretaceous strata of New Jersey. American Journal of Science, 48:265–267.Google Scholar
Müller, S. 1838. Waarnemingen over de Indische Krokodillen en Beschrijving van Enne Neiuwe Soort. Tijdschrift voor Natuurlijke Geschiedenis en Physiologie, 5:61–87.Google Scholar
Müller, S. 1846. Ueber den Character der Thierwalt auf den Inseln des indischen Archipels, ein Beitrag zur zoologischen Geographie. Archiv für Naturgeschichte, 12:109–128.Google Scholar
Myrick, A. C. 2001. Thecachampsa antiqua (Leidy, 1852) (Crocodylidae, Thoracosaurinae) from fossil marine deposits at Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 90:219–225.Google Scholar
Norell, M. A. 1989. The higher level relationships of the extant Crocodylia. Journal of Herpetology, 23:325–335.Google Scholar
Norell, M. A., and Storrs, G. W. 1986. Catalogue and review of the type fossil crocodilians in the Yale Peabody Museum. Postilla, 203:1–28.Google Scholar
Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnung, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien als Prodrom einer Naturgeschichte derselben. Lindauer, Munich, 87 p.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1849. Notes on remains of fossil reptiles discovered by Prof. Henry Rogers of Pennsylvania, U.S., in greensand formations of New Jersey. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 5:380–383.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1850a. Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay, and of the Bracklesham and Other Tertiary Beds, Pt. II: Crocodilia (Crocodilus, etc.). Paleontographical Society, London, 50 p.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1850b. On the communications between the cavity of the tympanum and the palate in the Crocodilia (gavials, alligator and crocodiles). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 27:521–527.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1874. Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck formations. VI. Hylaeochampsa. Palaeontographical Society Monographs, 27:1–7.Google Scholar
Owens, J. P., Miller, K. G., and Sugarman, P. J. 1997. Lithostratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Island Beach borehole, New Jersey Coastal Plain Drilling Project. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X:15–24.Google Scholar
Parris, D. C. 1986. Biostratigraphy of the fossil crocodile Hyposaurus Owen from New Jersey. New Jersey State Museum Investigation, 4:1–16.Google Scholar
Parris, D. C., Grandstaff, B. S., Denton, R. K., and Dobie, J. L. 1997. Diplocynodon (Alligatorinae) in the Cretaceous of eastern North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17:69A.Google Scholar
Pomel, A. 1847. Note sur les animaux fossiles découverts dans le département de l'Allier. Bulletin de la Societé Geologique de France, ser. 2, 4:378–385.Google Scholar
Salisbury, S. W., and Willis, P. M. A. 1996. A new crocodylian from the Early Eocene of southeastern Queensland and a preliminary investigation of the phylogenetic relationships of crocodyloids. Alcheringa, 20:179–227.Google Scholar
Schwimmer, D. R. 1986. Late Cretaceous fossils from the Blufftown Formation (Campanian) in western Georgia. The Mosasaur, 3:109–123.Google Scholar
Schwimmer, D. R. 2002. King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 220 p.Google Scholar
Sill, W. D. 1970. Nota preliminar sobre un nuevo gavial del Plioceno de Venezuela y una discusion de los gaviales sudamericanos. Ameghiniana, 7:151–159.Google Scholar
Steel, R.Steel, R. 1973. Handbuch der Paleoherpetologie. Vol. 16. Crocodylia. Fischer-Verlag, Portland, Oregon, 116 p.Google Scholar
Steurbaut, E. 1998. High-resolution holostratigraphy of Middle Palaeocene to Early Eocene strata in Belgium and adjacent areas. Palaeontographica Abt. A, 247:91–156.Google Scholar
Steurbaut, E., de Coninck, J., Roche, E., and Smith, T. 1999. The Dormaal Sands and the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary in Belgium. Bulletin de la Societe Géologique de France, 170:217–227.Google Scholar
Swinton, W. E. 1937. The crocodile of Maransart (Dollosuchus dixoni [Owen]). Mémoires du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, 80:1–46.Google Scholar
Swofford, D. L. 2002. PAUP∗. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (∗and other methods), version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Taplin, L. E., and Grigg, G. C. 1989. Historical zoogeography of the eusuchian crocodilians: A physiological perspective. American Zoologist, 29:885–901.Google Scholar
Tarsitano, S. F., Frey, E., and Riess, J. 1989. The evolution of the Crocodilia: A conflict between morphological and biochemical data. American Zoologist, 29:843–856.Google Scholar
Toula, F., and Kail, J. A. 1885. Uber einen Krokodil-Schadel aus den Tertiärablagerungen von Eggenburg in Niederosterreich: Eine palaontologische Studie. Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, 50:299–355.Google Scholar
Troedsson, G. T. 1924. On crocodilian remains from the Danian of Sweden. Lunds Universitets Årsskrift, 20:1–75.Google Scholar
Troxell, E. L. 1925a. Hyposaurus, a marine crocodilian. American Journal of Science, 8:489–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troxell, E. L. 1925b. Thoracosaurus, a Cretaceous crocodile. American Journal of Science, fifth series, 10:219–233.Google Scholar
von Meyer, H. 1847–1855. Zur Fauna der Vorwelt, Zweite Abteilung. Die Saurier des Muschelkalks mit Ruecksicht auf die Saurier aus Buntem Sandstein und Keuper. Keller, Fankfurt am Main, 167 p.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. 1999. Reptile remains from the Fisher/Sullivan site. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication, 152:101–121.Google Scholar
White, P. S., and Densmore, L. D. 2001. DNA sequence alignments and data analysis methods: Their effect on the recovery of crocodylian relationships, p. 29–37. In Grigg, G., Seebacher, F., and Franklin, C. E. (eds.), Crocodilian Biology and Evolution. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Sydney.Google Scholar