Mekosuchine crocodiles
From Freepedia
| Mekosuchine Crocodiles
Conservation status: Prehistoric | ||||||||||||
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Australosuchus |
A Mekosuchine crocodiles are an extinct group of crocodiles from Australia and the South Pacific. They first appear in the fossil record in the early Miocene in Australia, and survived until the Pliocene in Australia and until the arrival of man in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Their place in the order Crocodilia is uncertain.
The Mekosuchines were an unusual group. An early species, from Riversleigh Queensland, called the Ridge-headed Crocodile (Trilophosuchus rackhami), was a short snouted large eyed species that has been nicknamed the 'drop croc' as it is theorised it may have attacked prey by climbing trees and dropping on them. Another mekosuchine crocodile fossil has been found in Miocene deposits from New Zealand. One genera, Mekosuchus, managed to spread to the islands of the Pacific; it is believed to have island-hopped across the Coral Sea, moving first to a now submerged island known as Greater Chesterfield Island, then New Caledonia and onwards. Some scientists theorise fossils may eventually be found on the islands of Tonga and Samoa.
The mekosuchines became extinct in Australia after the arrival of crocodiles from the genus Crocodylus, today represented by the Saltwater Crocodile. The group survived on Vanuatu and New Caledonia until the arrival of people, who are presumed to have driven them to extinction.
- ORDER Crocodilia
- Family Crocodylidae
- Subfamily Mekosuchinae
- Family Crocodylidae
References
New extinct Mekosuchine crocodile from Vanuatu, South Pacific. Mead, Jim I., David W. Steadman, Stuart H. Bedford, Christopher J. Bell and Matthew Spriggs. Copeia. 2002(3):632-641
