Jeremy Martin, Massimo Delfino, Géraldine Garcia, Pascal Godefroit, Stéphane Berton, and Xavier Valentin (2015)
New specimens of Allodaposuchus precedens from France: intraspecific variability and the diversity of European Late Cretaceous eusuchians
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015:1-25.
A series of cranial remains as well as a few postcranial elements attributed to the basal eusuchian Allodaposuchus
precedens are described from Velaux-La Bastide Neuve, a Late Cretaceous continental locality in southern France.
Four skulls of different size represent an ontogenetic series and permit an evaluation of the morphological variability
in this species. On this basis, recent proposals that different species of Allodaposuchus inhabited the European
archipelago are questioned and A. precedens is recognized from other Late Cretaceous deposits of France
and Romania. A dentary bone is described for the first time in A. precedens and provides a basis to reconsider the
validity of two taxa, Ischyrochampsa meridionalis and Musturzabalsuchus buffetauti, which are interpreted as possible
junior synonyms of Allodaposuchus. These results allow the diversity of Late Cretaceous eusuchians from
Europe to be refined and recognize a basal stock known as the Hylaeochampsidae sharing an absence of external
mandibular fenestrae. Within this family, Allodaposuchus occupies a basal position relative to Acynodon, Iharkutosuchus
and Hylaeochampsa.
- DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12331
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