Arenysuchus

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Arenysuchus
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Skull (ELI-1) and diagram
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Clade: Eusuchia
Clade: †Allodaposuchidae
Genus: †Arenysuchus
Puértolas, Canudo & Cruzado-Caballero, 2011
Type species
†Arenysuchus gascabadiolorum
Puértolas, Canudo & Cruzado-Caballero, 2011

Arenysuchus (meaning "Arén crocodile") is an

monospecific genus of allodaposuchid eusuchian crocodylomorph from Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian stage) deposits of north Spain. It is known from the holotype MPZ ELI-1, a partial skull from Elías site, and from the referred material MPZ2010/948, MPZ2010/949, MPZ2010/950 and MPZ2010/951, four teeth from Blasi 2 site. It was found by the researchers José Manuel Gasca and Ainara Badiola from the Tremp Formation, in Arén of Huesca, Spain. It was first named by Eduardo Puértolas, José I. Canudo and Penélope Cruzado-Caballero in 2011 and the type species
is Arenysuchus gascabadiolorum.

Etymology

Arenysuchus was named and

described in 2011 by Eduardo Puértolas and his colleagues for a partial skull and teeth. For the generic name, Areny is named after Arén, spelt as Areny in the Catalan language, the locality where the skull was found, and souchus, the Greek word for crocodile, leading to Latin, suchus. The specific epithet of "gascabadiolorum" is dedicated to the researchers José Manuel Gasca and Ainara Badiola, who discovered the holotype.[1]

Description

Holotype skull ELI-1 in two other views

Arenysuchus is known a partial skull and four teeth. One feature linking it to early

dentary tooth if the lower jaw were present. All other teeth of the lower jaw are set inward from those of the upper jaw, so they are covered by the upper teeth when the jaws are closed.[1]

Distinguishing anatomical features

Arenysuchus can be distinguished by the following features: an infratemporal bar that is tabular and vertically oriented, with little dorsoventral thickness and an extreme lateromedial compression; the dorsal portion of the anterior process of the

anterior margin of the orbits and the prefrontal bone, at the height of the anterior end of the lacrimal bone.[1]

Phylogeny

Cladogram with skull diagrams

In Puértolas, Canudo & Cruzado-Caballero's original 2011

superfamily of crocodilians that includes crocodiles and their extinct relatives, which can be shown in the cladogram below:[1]

Crocodylia

Alternatively, subsequent phylogenetic studies have found Arenysuchus to be the

sister taxon of Allodaposuchus and a member of Allodaposuchidae, as shown in the cladogram below:[2]

Allodaposuchidae

Arenysuchus gascabadiolorum

Allodaposuchus precedens

Allodaposuchus iberoarmoricanus

Allodaposuchus subjuniperus

Allodaposuchus palustris

Allodaposuchus hulki

Agaresuchus fontisensis

Lohuecosuchus mechinorum

Lohuecosuchus megadontos

Paleobiology

Arenysuchus was part of an initial

hadrosaurs. Crocodylians radiated to become a much larger component of the island ecosystems.[1]

Paleoecology

Excavation site

The Elias site, located west of

Conques Formation. In the same section of the Tremp Formation, but lower down, are the Blasi sites 1–3. The dinosaurs Arenysaurus and Blasisaurus are both from Blasi 1–3. The Tremp Formation is made up of 900 m (3,000 ft) of reddish rock in the South Pyrenean central Unit. Lower in the formation is a mix of platform marine deposits, that are late Campanian to Maastrichtian in age. Blasi 1 is located in the upper Arén Formation, with Blasi 3 extending into the upper Tremp Formation.[1]

The Tremp Formation dates to the late

Abathomphalus mayaroensis Biozone, which was dated in 2011 from 68.4 to 65.5 Ma. This gives the formation a late Campanian to early Danian age. The bottom of the Elias site is about 67 million years old, so the site dates from 67.6 to 65.5 Ma.[1]

References

  1. ^
    PMID 21687705
    .
  2. PMID 34106925
    .
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