MSGID: 1:317/3 63d8995f   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    New ancient 'marine crocodile' discovered on UK's Jurassic Coast -- and   
   it's one of the oldest specimens of its type ever found    
      
     Date:   
         January 30, 2023   
     Source:   
         Taylor & Francis Group   
     Summary:   
         A new study has uncovered a new thalattosuchian -- an ancient   
         'sister' of modern-day crocodiles' ancestors.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   A new study has uncovered a new thalattosuchian -- an ancient 'sister'   
   of modern-day crocodiles' ancestors.   
      
      
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   The discovery of Turnersuchushingleyae follows an impressive unearthing of   
   fossils on the Jurassic Coast, in Dorset, UK, including part of the head,   
   backbone, and limbs. In fact, the find at the Charmouth Mudstone Formation   
   was so successful, Turnersuchusis the only complete enough thalattosuchian   
   of its age -- dating back to the Early Jurassic, Pliensbachian period,   
   around 185 million years ago -- to be named to date.   
      
   Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, experts   
   state the discovery of this new predator helps fill a gap in the fossil   
   record and suggests that thalattosuchians, with other crocodyliforms,   
   should have originated around the end of the Triassic period -- around   
   15 million years further back in time than when Turnersuchus lived.   
      
   "We should now expect to find more thalattosuchians of the same age   
   as Turnersuchus as well as older," states co-author Dr. Eric Wilberg,   
   Assistant Professor at the Department of Anatomical Sciences, at Stony   
   Brook University.   
      
   "In fact, during the publication of our paper, another paper was published   
   describing a thalattosuchian skull discovered in the roof of a cave in   
   Morocco from the Hettangian/Sinemurian (the time periods preceding the   
   Pliensbachian where Turnersuchus was found), which corroborates this   
   idea. I expect we will continue to find more older thalattosuchians and   
   their relatives. Our analyses suggest that thalattosuchians likely first   
   appeared in the Triassic and survived the end-Triassic mass extinction."   
   However, no digs have found thalattosuchians in Triassic rocks yet, which   
   means there is a ghost lineage (a period during which we know a group   
   must have existed, but we haven't yet recovered fossil evidence). Until   
   the discovery of Turnersuchus, this ghost lineage extended from the end   
   of the Triassic until the Toarcian, in the Jurassic, "but now we can   
   reduce the ghost lineage by a few million years" the expert team states.   
      
   Thalattosuchians are referred to colloquially as 'marine crocodiles' or   
   'sea crocodiles', despite the fact they are not members of Crocodylia,   
   but are more distantly related. Some thalattosuchians became very well   
   adapted to life in the oceans, with short limbs modified into flippers,   
   a shark-like tail fin, salt glands, and potentially the ability to give   
   live birth (rather than lay eggs).   
      
   Turnersuchus is interesting as much of these recognized thalattosuchian   
   features had yet to fully evolve. It lived in the Jurassic Ocean and   
   preyed on marine wildlife. And, due to its relatively long, slender   
   snout, would have looked similar in appearance to the currently living   
   gharial crocodiles, which are found in all the major river systems of   
   the northern Indian subcontinent.   
      
   "However," co-author Dr. Pedro Godoy, from the University of Sa~o Paulo in   
   Brazil says, "unlike crocodiles, this approximately 2-meter-long predator   
   lived purely in coastal marine habitats. And though their skulls look   
   superficially similar to modern gharials, they were constructed quite   
   differently."  Thalattosuchians had particularly large supratemporal   
   fenestrae -- a region of the skull housing jaw muscles. This suggests   
   that Turnersuchusand other thalattosuchians possessed enlarged jaw muscles   
   that likely enabled fast bites; most of their likely prey were fast-moving   
   fish or cephalopods. It's possible too, just as in modern-day crocodiles,   
   that the supratemporal region of Turnersuchus had a thermoregulatory   
   function -- to help buffer brain temperature.   
      
   Its name 'Turner'suchus 'hingley'aeoriginates from those who discovered   
   and donated the specimen to the Lyme Regis Museum: Paul Turner and   
   Lizzie Hingley who discovered the fossil in 2017. The ending "suchus,"   
   is the Latinized form of "soukhos," Greek for crocodile. The specimen   
   is currently on display at the Lyme Regis Museum in Lyme Regis, Dorset,   
   England.   
      
   The excavation also involved colleagues from the Charmouth Heritage   
   Coast Centre, who helped to unite the parts. These cliffs and the beach   
   on the South Coast of England site have become synonymous for such   
   finds with the discovery of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, as well as   
   the best preserved and most complete dinosaur found so far in Britain,   
   Scelidosaurus, to name but a few.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # New_Species # Fish # Marine_Biology # Extinction   
             o Fossils_&_Ruins   
                   # Fossils # Ancient_DNA # Dinosaurs #   
                   Ancient_Civilizations   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Timeline_of_human_evolution o Human_evolution o Alligatoridae   
             o Alligator o Reptile o Developmental_biology o Archaeology   
             o Mesopotamia   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Taylor_&_Francis_Group. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Related Multimedia:   
       * Artist's_impression_of_Turnersuchus_hingleyae   
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Eric W. Wilberg, Pedro L. Godoy, Elizabeth F. Griffiths, Alan   
      H. Turner,   
         Roger B. J. Benson. A new early diverging thalattosuchian   
         (Crocodylomorpha) from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of   
         Dorset, U.K.   
      
         and implications for the origin and evolution of the group. Journal   
         of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2023; DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2022.2161909   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230130130515.htm   
      
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