Trematochampsidae

Trematochampsidae Temporal range: 130–66.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early to Late Cretaceous
Restoration of the trematochampsid Itasuchus jesuinoi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Clade:	Metasuchia
Suborder:	†Notosuchia
Family:	†Trematochampsidae Buffetaut, 1974
Genera
†Amargasuchus †Baharijodon †Barreirosuchus †Caririsuchus †Itasuchus †Miadanasuchus †Trematochampsa

Trematochampsidae is an extinct family of mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils are present from Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Argentina, and Brazil (in the case of Caririsuchus, where some specimens have been found in the Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation^[1]). Possible trematochampsids have been found from Spain and France, but classification past the family level is indeterminant. The trematochampsids first appeared during the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous and became extinct during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

Description

Trematochampsids are deep-snouted and have a ziphodont tooth structure.^[2] The dentition differs from most other crocodilians in that the teeth are recurved, serrated, and lateromedially compressed. This may be an adaptation to a terrestrial or at least semiterrestrial lifestyle as such teeth would be better suited for cutting and tearing into prey as opposed to capturing them and holding them underwater. Despite this, most trematochampsids are presumed to have been aquatic.^[3]

Taxonomy

There has been much controversy surrounding the family's phylogeny, and the group's monophyly has been questioned.^[4] Relations between taxa within the family are also poorly understood. Many crocodylomorphs such as Mahajangasuchus, Bergisuchus and Iberosuchus had originally been assigned to Trematochapsidae but have since been assigned to the family Sebecidae or put into their own families. Neogene sebecosuchians of Europe have been reclassified as trematochampsids but have recently been supported as true sebecosuchians as was originally proposed.^[5][6][7][8]

Itasuchus had originally been assigned to Trematochapsidae. The phylogenetic analysis of Carvalho et al. (2004) found a sister relations between Malawisuchus and Itasuchus. They named this node family Itasuchidae, and found it to be a member of Peirosauroidea. However, their analysis didn't include any neosuchians or (other than Itasuchus) trematochampsids.^[9] All more recent phylogenetic analyses found a close relations between Trematochapsidae and Peirosauridae,^[7][8] and the two clades might be synonymous.^[10][11] Recent studies suggest that Itasuchus is a trematochampsid (and not closely related to the more derived notosuchian Malawisuchus).^[10][11][12] In 2012, the new trematochampsid Barreirosuchus was described from the Bauru Basin as Itasuchus and it shares with it, and with Caririsuchus camposi from the Araripe Basin, several synapomorphies that are absent in other trematochampsids and peirosaurids.^[12]

References

1. Kellner, A.W.A. and Campos, D. A. (1999). Vertebrate Paleontology in Brazil - a review. Episodes, vol. 22, p. 238-251.
2. Buckley, G. A., and Brochu, C. A. (1999). An enigmatic new crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar. In Unwin, D. (ed.), Cretaceous Fossil Vertebrates: Special Papers in Palaeontology No. 60, The Palaeontological Association (London), p. 149-175.
3. Rogers, Raymond R.; Krause, David W.; Curry Rogers, Kristina; Rasoamiaramanana, Armand H.; & Rahantarisoa, Lydia. (2007). Paleoenvironment and Paleoecology of Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(sp8): 21-31.
4. Gasparini, Z., Chiappe, L. M. and Fernandez, M (1991).A New Senonian Peirosaurid (Crocodylomorpha) from Argentina and a Synopsis of the South American Cretaceous crocodilians. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 11(3): 316-333.
5. Buckley, G. A., and Brochu, C. A. (1999). An enigmatic new crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar. In Unwin, D. (ed.), Cretaceous Fossil Vertebrates: Special Papers in Palaeontology No. 60, The Palaeontological Association (London), p. 149-175.
6. Turner, A. H. and Calvo, J. O. (2005). A new sebecosuchian crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(1): 87–98.
7. Turner, Alan H.; Sertich, Joseph J. W. (2010). "Phylogenetic history of Simosuchus clarki (Crocodyliformes: Notosuchia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (6, Memoir 10): 177–236. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.532348.
8. Diego Pol, Juan M. Leardi, Agustina Lecuona and Marcelo Krause (2012). "Postcranial anatomy of Sebecus icaeorhinus (Crocodyliformes, Sebecidae) from the Eocene of Patagonia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (2): 328–354. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.646833.
9. Carvalho, I.S.; Ribeiro, L.C.B.; Avilla, L.S. (2004). "Uberabasuchus terrificus sp. nov., a new Crocodylomorpha from the Bauru Basin (Upper Cretaceous), Brazil" (PDF). Gondwana Research 7 (4): 975–1002. doi:10.1016/S1342-937X(05)71079-0. ISSN 1342-937X.
10. Agustín G. Martinelli, Joseph J.W. Sertich, Alberto C. Garrido and Ángel M. Praderio (2012). "A new peirosaurid from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina: Implications for specimens referred to Peirosaurus torminni Price (Crocodyliformes: Peirosauridae)". Cretaceous Research 37: 191–200. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.017.
11. Bronzati, M.; Montefeltro, F. C.; Langer, M. C. (2012). "A species-level supertree of Crocodyliformes". Historical Biology: 1. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.662680.
12. Fabiano Vidoi Iori and Karina Lucia Garcia (2012). "Barreirosuchus franciscoi, um novo Crocodylomorpha Trematochampsidae da Bacia Bauru, Brasil". Revista Brasileira de Geociências 42 (2): 397–410. doi:10.5327/z0375-75362012000200013.