New species of early crocodile named Asiatosuchus oenotoriensis was discovered by a team of paleontologists from Spain’s National University of Distance Learning and the University of Salamanca.
Skull Asiatosuchus oenotoriensis Type specimen from the Middle Eocene site of Casaseca de Campean, Spain. Image credit: Narváez others., doi: 10.1002/ar.25422.
The newly identified crocodile lived on Earth during the Middle Eocene Epoch, between 48 and 41 million years ago.
Prehistoric animals Asiatosuchus An extinct genus of crocodilian crocodiles that lived in Europe and Asia during the Paleogene (66 to 23 million years ago).
“During the Palaeogene, a variety of crocodilians with common snouts (i.e. non-elongated snouts) inhabited Europe. The Middle Eocene is particularly notable for its relative abundance and diversity, but also includes fossils from the Late Paleocene and possibly the Early Oligocene and Late Neogene,” said lead author Dr Ivan Narváez and his colleagues.
“Many of the Eocene crocodile fossils are from the Asiatosuchus-like complex.”
“Genus Asiatosuchus was Established The species was defined in 1940 by paleontologist Charles Mook. Asiatosuchus grangeli It is based on an incomplete lower jaw and several skull fragments from the Middle Eocene of the Irdin Mankha Formation in Mongolia.”
“After the definition Asiatosuchus grangeli Several other eupteran forms, generally represented as isolated or rare fossils, have been described from the Paleocene to Oligocene of Europe, Asia and North America and have recently been Asiatosuchus It’s a complex like that.”
Two fossils Asiatosuchus oenotoriensis A similarly sized specimen was discovered at the La Laguna archaeological site in Spain in the 1980s.
The specimen includes a nearly complete skull and a nearly complete left lower jaw.
“The La Laguna fossil site is located in the Tierra del Vino region of the province of Zamora, Spain, approximately 20 kilometres south of the city of Zamora and approximately one kilometre north of the village of Casaseca de Campean,” the paleontologists said.
“The area forms part of the western part of the Duero Basin (Ciudad Rodrigo Basin).”
“The Duero Basin is the largest continental Cenozoic basin on the Iberian Peninsula.”
According to the authors: Asiatosuchus oenotoriensis Increase knowledge of diversity and distribution of Asiatosuchus Crocodile-like complex.
“Asiatosuchus oenotoriensis “This adds valuable information to our knowledge of the systematics of the relatively diverse crocodile fauna of the Duero Basin in Spain,” the researchers said.
Team paper Published in Anatomy record.
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Ivan Narvaez others A new crocodilian superfamily from the Middle Eocene of Zamora (Duero Basin, Spain). Anatomy record Published online March 5, 2024; doi: 10.1002/ar.25422
Source: www.sci.news
