Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(4):633-636. 2000
doi: 10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0633:FROERA]2.0.CO;2

FIRST RECORD OF ERPETOSUCHUS (REPTILIA: ARCHOSAURIA) FROM THE LATE TRIASSIC OF NORTH AMERICA

PAUL E. OLSENa, HANS-DIETER SUESb, MARK A. NORELLc

aLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964

bDepartment of Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6 and Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5

cDivision of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York 10024



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APPENDIX 1




Characters and character-states for crocodylomorph archosaurs and various related taxa (from Clark et al., 2000).

Posterodorsal process of premaxilla overlapping anterodorsal surface of maxilla (0) or dorsal process of premaxilla vertical, strongly sutured to maxilla (1).

Facial portion of maxilla anterior to anterior edge of antorbital fenestra equal in length or longer than portion posterior to anterior edge of fenestra (0) or shorter than posterior portion (1).

Maxillae do not meet on palate (0) or meet on palate to form secondary bony palate anterior to choana (1).

Jugal participates in posterior edge of antorbital fenestra (0) or is excluded by lacrimal or maxilla (1).

Descending process of prefrontal absent (0) or present (1).

Descending process of prefrontal not contacting palate (0) or contacting palate (1).

Prefrontal not underlying anterolateral edge of frontal to a significant degree (0) or with distinct posterior process underlying frontal dorsal to orbit (1).

Postfrontal present (0) or absent (1).

Dorsal surface of frontal flat (0) or with longitudinal ridge along midline (1).

Squamosal not significantly overhanging lateral temporal region (0) or with broad lateral expansion overhanging lateral temporal region (1).

Descending process of squamosal anterior to quadrate present (0) or absent (1).

Squamosal without ridge on dorsal surface along edge of supratemporal fossa (0) or with ridge (1).

Quadratojugal extends anterodorsally to contact postorbital (0) or does not contact postorbital (1).

Quadrate does not contact prootic (0) or contacts prootic (1).

In presumed adults, parietals separate (0), interparietal suture partially obliterated (1), or interparietal suture absent (2). [ordered]

Posteroventral edge of parietals extends more than half the width of occiput (0) or less than half the width of occiput (1).

Medial extent of supratemporal fossa on lateral surface of parietal separated on midline by broad, flat area (0) or by “sagittal crest” (which may be divided by interparietal suture) (1).

Occipital margin of parietals V-shaped in dorsal view (0) or straight (1).

Exoccipitals broadly separated dorsal to foramen magnum (0), approach midline without contacting (1), or contacting below supraoccipital (2). [ordered]

Prootic broadly contacting anterior surface of paroccipital process (0) or not in broad contact (1).

Depression for mastoid antrum: absent (0), present on lateral surface of prootic dorsal to otic capsule (1), or entering into prootic and connecting with opposite through supraoccipital (2). [ordered]

Depression for posterior tympanic recess: absent (0), depression posterior to fenestra ovalis on anterior surface of the paroccipital process (1), penetrating prootic and paroccipital process (2). [ordered]

Paroccipital process dorsoventrally tall and distinctly expanded distally (0) or process narrower dorsoventrally, distal end only slightly expanded (1).

Basipterygoid processes of basisphenoid present (0) or absent (1).

Basipterygoid processes simple, without large cavity (0) or greatly expanded, with large cavity (1).

Symphyseal region of dentary with straight ventral margin (0) or with deep “swelling” extending ventrally below level of ventral margin of postsymphyseal portion of dentary (1).

Articular without dorsomedial projection posterior to the glenoid fossa (0) or with dorsomedial projection (1).

Coracoid subcircular in lateral view (0), with elongate post-glenoidal process posteromedially (1), or with elongate ventromedial process expanded ventrally (2).

Proximal ends of metacarpals overlap (0) or abut one another without overlapping (1).

Proximal head of femur confluent with shaft (0) or with distinct, medially directed head set off from shaft (1).

Tibia/femur length ratio: less than 1 (0) or more than 1 (1).

Anterior edge of paramedian dorsal osteoderms straight (0) or with anterior process (1).

Paramedian dorsal osteoderms flat (0) or with distinct longitudinal bend near lateral edge (1).

FIGURE 1. A, stratigraphic division of the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic strata of the Hartford basin (Newark Supergroup) in Connecticut and Massachusetts. B, geological map of the Hartford basin.

FIGURE 2. Partial skull and mandible of Erpetosuchus sp., AMNH 29300, in right lateral view. The first maxillary tooth was preserved only as an impression in the matrix. Abbreviations: an, angular; ao.f, antorbital fenestra; d, dentary; j, jugal; l, lacrimal; lt.f, infra- or laterotemporal fenestra; m, maxilla; m.f, external mandibular fenestra; or, orbit; pm, premaxilla; po, postorbital; prf, prefrontal; q, quadrate; qj, quadratojugal; sa, surangular; sq, squamosal. Scale bar equals 1 cm.

FIGURE 3. Single most parsimonious tree depicting a hypothesis of relationships for Erpetosuchus, Crocodylomorpha, and selected other archosaurian taxa, based on numerical cladistic analysis (using the exhaustive search option of PAUP, version 3.1.1) of character-states for 33 characters in 7 taxa (see Table 1).

table

TABLE 1. Character-taxon matrix showing the distribution of character-states for 33 characters (see Appendix) for seven archosaurian taxa. “0” denotes plesiomorphic character-state, “1” and “2” denote apomorphic character-states. “?” indicates unknown character-state. “N” indicates that scoring is inapplicable due to transformation; in such instances, the character-state was treated as unknown in the analysis. See Clark et al. (2000) for details regarding coding.

Cited by

E. Troy Rasbury, Jennifer M. Cole. (2009) Directly dating geologic events: U-Pb dating of carbonates. Reviews of Geophysics 47:3,
Online publication date: 1-Feb-2009.
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Dennis V. Kent, Paul E. Olsen. (2008) Early Jurassic magnetostratigraphy and paleolatitudes from the Hartford continental rift basin (eastern North America): Testing for polarity bias and abrupt polar wander in association with the central Atlantic magmatic province. Journal of Geophysical Research 113:B6,
Online publication date: 1-Feb-2008.
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Michael J. Benton, Alick D. Walker. (2002) Archosaurian anatomy and palaeontology. Essays in memory of Alick D. Walker. Edited by D. B. Norman and D. J. Gower. Erpetosuchus, a crocodile-like basal archosaur from the Late Triassic of Elgin, Scotland. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136:1, 25-47
Online publication date: 1-Oct-2002.
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