Mekosuchinae

Mekosuchinae Temporal range: Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Restoration of the skull of Quinkana timara at the Central Australian Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauromorpha
Clade:	Archosauriformes
Order:	Crocodilia
Clade:	†Mekosuchinae Willis, Molnar & Scanlon, 1993
Type species
† Balouet & Buffetaut, 1987
Genera
Australosuchus Baru Harpacochampsa? Kalthifrons Kambara Mekosuchus Paludirex Quinkana Trilophosuchus Ultrastenos Volia

Mekosuchinae is an extinct

Mekosuchine crocodiles are a diverse group. One of the last species, Mekosuchus inexpectatus from Holocene New Caledonia, may have been arboreal.^[2] The early Miocene species Harpacochampsa camfieldensis may have resembled a false gharial. Another mekosuchine fossil, currently undescribed, has been found in Miocene deposits from New Zealand. One genus, Mekosuchus, managed to spread to the islands of the Pacific; it is believed to have island-hopped across the Coral Sea, moving first to a now submerged island known as Greater Chesterfield Island, then New Caledonia and onwards. In the Pleistocene, Quinkana was one of the top terrestrial predators of the Australian continent.

Mekosuchines underwent a drastic decline in post-Miocene Australia, with all genera, except for Quinkana and

. After the demise of Quinkana and Pallimnarchus, the group survived on Vanuatu and New Caledonia until the arrival of humans, who are presumed to have driven them to extinction.

While historically considered to be true

Crocodylidae), modern research places them as an independent group within or closely related to Longirostres, which contains both crocodiles and gavialids.^[1]

Phylogeny

Mekosuchinae is

The below cladogram shows the results of the Lee and Yates study (2018), which placed Mekosuchinae outside of Crocodyloidea, as more basal than Longirostres (the combined group of crocodiles and gavialids).^[5]

Crocodylia

Alligatoroidea Prodiplocynodon† Asiatosuchus† "Crocodylus" affinis † "Crocodylus" depressifrons † "Crocodylus" acer † Brachyuranochampsa† Mekosuchinae Australosuchus† Kambara taraina † Kambara implexidens † Kambara murgonensis † Kalthifrons† ‘ Pallimnarchus ’† Baru wickeni † Baru darrowi † Baru Alcoota† Bullock Creek taxon† Baru huberi † Volia† Mekosuchus† Trilophosuchus† Quinkana† Longirostres Crocodyloidea "Crocodylus" megarhinus† Crocodylidae Gavialoidea extinct basal Gavialoids† Gavialidae Gavialis Tomistoma

Other studies have recovered Mekosuchinae within Longirostres, belonging to Crocodyloidea, as shown in the alternative cladogram below.^[1]

References