Morphology, relationships, and biogeographical significance of an extinct horned crocodile (Crocodylia, Crocodylidae) from the Quaternary of Madagascar

By C. Brochu. 2007

105 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Crocodylus robustus Grandidier & Vaillant, 1872 is more closely related to the living African dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus) than to living Crocodylus. The type series cannot be identified, but the original description includes details consistent with known specimens that almost certainly pertain to the same species. It had a prominent triangular ‘horn’ on the posterolateral corner of each squamosal; near-exclusion of the nasals from the external naris; constricted supratemporal fenestral rims; a dorsoventrally deep snout; a constricted external mandibular fenestra in which the surangular–angular suture emerges from the posterior rather than posteroventral margin; and robust limb and limb girdle elements. It shares with Osteolaemus, and with several extinct crocodylids from the Neogene of Africa, a depressed surface of the pterygoid around the internal choana forming a choanal ‘neck’. It cannot be referred to Crocodylus and a new praenomen, Voay, is established for its reception. Voay persisted into the Holocene and may have been extant when humans first settled Madagascar 2000 years ago, when it may have been a casualty of a megafaunal extinction event on the island. This is consistent with molecular data that suggest comparatively recent dispersal of Crocodylus niloticus to Madagascar from mainland Africa. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 150, 835–863.

Subfields: Nature and Landscape Conservation, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/52162da6030affa9f7740fe97665021000220093

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. M. Norell
2. S. Brusatte
3. T. Carr
4. M. Eaton
5. Lawrence M. Witmer
6. D. Krause
7. C. Holliday
8. J. Ali

In Paleontology

1. M. Norell
2. S. Brusatte
3. T. Carr
4. M. Eaton
5. Andrew P. Martin
6. M. Leslie
7. Lawrence M. Witmer
8. D. Krause

Citations in the corpus

• The Osteology of Alioramus, A Gracile and Long-Snouted Tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia (2012, background): “…that seen in other archosaurus (e.g., ceratopsians: Sampson et al., 1997; Dodson et al., 2004; rauisuchians: Chatterjee, 1985, Gower, 1999, Weinbaum, 2011; horned crocodiles: Brochu, 2007, Brochu et al., 2010), in which ornamentation tends to extend along the top of the snout and around the orbits.”
• Barcoding bushmeat: molecular identification of Central African and South American harvested vertebrates (2010, background): “Congeneric species differences Based on the results of previous phylogenetic (Eaton et al. 2009) and morphological (Brochu 2007) studies, we treated African dwarf crocodiles (genus Osteolaemus) from Congo and Gabon as distinct species.”
• The Epipterygoid of Crocodyliforms and Its Significance for the Evolution of the Orbitotemporal Region of Eusuchians (2009, background): “…occurred during the Mesozoic (e.g., Clark, 1994; Buckley et al., 2000; Ortega et al., 2000; Sereno et al., 2001; Brochu, 2001, 2004; Sereno et al., 2003; Pol and Norell, 2004; Turner, 2004; Turner and Calvo, 2005; Jouve, 2005; Pierce and Benton, 2006; Brochu, 2007; Larsson and Sues, 2007).”
• Late Cretaceous bioconnections between Indo‐Madagascar and Antarctica: refutation of the Gunnerus Ridge causeway hypothesis (2011, background): “Crocodilus niloticus almost certainly crossed the Mozambique Channel very recently, as evidenced by the fact that there are no fossils of the species in Madagascar predating human colonization approximately 2000 years ago (Brochu, 2007) and that molecular dating indicates only minimal divergence fro”