Julia d’Oliveira
Reconstruction of the life of Turnersuchus hingleyae.
Nationalgeographic.co.id—Paleontologists report having found sea crocodile fossil from the Jurassic period Beginning. The fossil was found in the Belemnite Marl Member of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation in Dorset, United Kingdom.
The fossil was identified as a new species and genus of thalattosuchian crocodylomorph (prehistoric sea crocodiles) from the Early Jurassic. The findings have been published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
New species the dynamism of the prehistoric sea crocodile Turnersuchus hingleyae. The find helps fill in a gap in the fossil record and suggests that the thalattosuchian, with another crocodyliform, should have originated around the end of the Triassic period – around 15 million years old.
The Thalattosuchian, colloquially referred to as the ‘sea crocodile’ or ‘sea crocodile’, was a prominent member of the marine ecosystem from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.
They appear abruptly in the fossil record with high species richness, indicating rapid diversification during the Toarcian period, between 183 and 174 million years ago.
Fewer than ten species are currently known from this time period across its wide geographic distribution. While most of the specimens were found in Europe, specimens have also been reported from China, Argentina, and Madagascar.
newly identified species, Turnersuchus hingleyaelived in what is now Great Britain, about 185 million years ago.
“We should now expect to find more thalattosuchians of the same age as Turnersuchus hingleyae and older,” said Eric Wilberg, a paleontologist in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at the University of Stony Brook.
“In fact, during the publication of our paper, another paper was published describing a thalattosuchian skull found on the roof of a Hettangian/Sinemurian cave in Morocco, which corroborates this idea.”
Sinemurian is the time period before the Pliensbachian in which Turnersuchus hingleyae found. “I hope we will continue to find older thalattosuchians and their relatives,” he added.
“Our analysis suggests that thalattosuchians likely first appeared in the Triassic and survived the late Triassic mass extinction.”
Museum of Natural History
Prehistoric marine crocodile species. Turnersuchus hinleyae was recovered from the Belemnite Marl Member of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation in Dorset, United Kingdom
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