A new crocodyliform Eunotosuchia from the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group, Late Cretaceous) of General Salgado-SP.

• Grant number: 23/08076-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: November 28, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Chinaglia Montefeltro
• Grantee: Arthur Dentello Araújo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/01564-0 - Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Evolutionary Dynamics: An Analysis of Diversification Patterns in the Discovery of a New Eunotosuchian Crocodyliform from the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group, Late Cretaceous) from General Salgado-SP., BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Recent expeditions aimed at collecting in new localities in the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group, Upper Cretaceous) in the General Salgado-SP region have provided a series of fossiliferous materials associated with Eunotosuchia (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia). One of these new materials, composed of a partial skeleton, is the subject of the following project. Preliminary analyses demonstrate that this is the first taxonomically relevant record of the Eunotosuchia group that is not associated with Baurusuchidae or Sphagesauridae. This new taxon has great potential to aid in the understanding of the evolution of the rich Eunotosuchia fauna recognized in the Adamantina Formation, but until now, it has been limited to taxa associated with Baurusuchidae and Sphagesauridae. Based on a set of unique characteristics recognized only in the new specimen, it was possible to assign a unique taxonomic affinity to this taxon. Therefore, the project aims to formally describe the new species and position it phylogenetically among the Eunotosuchia. The project has great potential to understand and investigate evolutionary aspects of the history of Eunotosuchia in the continental ecosystems of Gondwana, including significant temporal and stratigraphic information.