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Wiley, Palaeontology, 6(51), p. 1307-1333, 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00818.x

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A New Metriorhynchid Crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) From the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, Uk

Journal article published in 2008 by Laura E. Wilkinson, Mark T. Young ORCID, Michael J. Benton
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Recent revision of the marine metriorhynchid crocodilians indicates that a partial skull previously assigned to the species Metriorhynchus superciliosus and newly discovered postcranial elements from the Kimmeridge Clay of Westbury, Wiltshire belong to a new species of metriorhynchid. This material is herein described and referred to a new species of the genus Dakosaurus, characterised by four apomorphies: the size and shape of the enlarged supratemporal fossae; relatively large teeth, and half the number in relatives; the robust and unornamented cranium; and the angle that the prefrontal makes with the long axis of the skull. In a new phylogenetic analysis, Dakosaurus carpenteri sp. nov. is the basal member of a clade containing also D. maximus and D. andiniensis: it is not so short-snouted and its teeth are not so few and large as in the other two species, but the new form illustrates the ecological transition among metriorhynchids from a piscivorous diet to high-order carnivory.