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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

A New Baurusuchid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil and the Phylogeny of Baurusuchidae

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Author(s):
Montefeltro, Felipe C. [1] ; Larsson, Hans C. E. [2] ; Langer, Max C. [1]
Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, BR-14049 Ribeirao Preto - Brazil
[2] McGill Univ, Redpath Museum, Montreal, PQ H3A 2K6 - Canada
Total Affiliations: 2
Document type: Journal article
Source: PLoS One; v. 6, n. 7 JUL 13 2011.
Web of Science Citations: 41
Abstract

Background: Baurusuchidae is a group of extinct Crocodyliformes with peculiar, dog-faced skulls, hypertrophied canines, and terrestrial, cursorial limb morphologies. Their importance for crocodyliform evolution and biogeography is widely recognized, and many new taxa have been recently described. In most phylogenetic analyses of Mesoeucrocodylia, the entire clade is represented only by Baurusuchus pachecoi, and no work has attempted to study the internal relationships of the group or diagnose the clade and its members. Methodology/Principal Findings: Based on a nearly complete skull and a referred partial skull and lower jaw, we describe a new baurusuchid from the Vale do Rio do Peixe Formation (Bauru Group), Late Cretaceous of Brazil. The taxon is diagnosed by a suite of characters that include: four maxillary teeth, supratemporal fenestra with equally developed medial and anterior rims, four laterally visible quadrate fenestrae, lateral Eustachian foramina larger than medial Eustachian foramen, deep depression on the dorsal surface of pterygoid wing. The new taxon was compared to all other baurusuchids and their internal relationships were examined based on the maximum parsimony analysis of a discrete morphological data matrix. Conclusion: The monophyly of Baurusuchidae is supported by a large number of unique characters implying an equally large morphological gap between the clade and its immediate outgroups. A complex phylogeny of baurusuchids was recovered. The internal branch pattern suggests two main lineages, one with a relatively broad geographical range between Argentina and Brazil (Pissarrachampsinae), which includes the new taxon, and an endemic clade of the Bauru Group in Brazil (Baurusuchinae). (AU)