#I AM SIMPLIFYING LEGS VS FLIPPERS AND CROC RATHER THAN CROCODYLOMORPH

[northwyrm]

Hi, I was on the new thalattosuchian paper!

We didn't name the little guy as it was a very very partial fossil (section of the snout). From the snout bones we know it was a Thalattosuchian which is weird because it's further back in the fossil record than it should be!

Thalattosuchians are ocean crocs with flippers; as the lil snout from the Sinemurian is just a skull piece (well we have vertebrae and ribs too) we don't know what the body looked like, but at a guess it's a basal thalattosuchian so it probably had legs not flippers.

The skull was full of pneumatic channels. Absolutely full of holes like a sponge. My part in the project was mapping out these and other internal structures on the fossil scan ^_^

There is also the recent renaming of Cricosaurus schroederi to Enalioetes schroederi; we know a lot more about Enalioetes as we have more of the skull and part of the neck; Cretaceous ocean croc who ate fish and squid.

I’m assuming you know quite a lot about crocodile evolution!

at the very least I like to think I do, tho it is a constant learning experience for me as well

theres always something new around the corner (like that newly named thalattosuchian I’ll dig into after I’m back from vacation)