Rhabdognathus

Rhabdognathus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – Paleocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Crocodyliformes
Family: †Dyrosauridae
Genus: †Rhabdognathus
Swinton, 1930
Species
  • †R. rarus Swinton, 1930 (type)
  • †R. aslerensis Jouve, 2007
  • †R. keiniensis Jouve, 2007

Rhabdognathus is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid crocodylomorph. It is known from rocks dating to the Paleocene epoch from western Africa,[1] and specimens dating back to the Maastrichtian era were identified in 2008.[2] It was named by Swinton in 1930 for a lower jaw fragment from Nigeria.[3] The type species is Rhabdognathus rarus.[3] Stéphane Jouve subsequently assessed R. rarus as indeterminate at the species level, but not at the genus level, and thus dubious. Two skulls which were assigned to the genus Rhabdognathus but which could not be shown to be identical to R. rarus were given new species: R. aslerensis and R. keiniensis, both from Mali.[3] The genus formerly contained the species Rhabdognathus compressus, which was reassigned to Congosaurus compressus after analysis of the lower jaw of a specimen found that it was more similar to that of the species Congosaurus bequaerti.[3] Rhabdognathus is believed to be the closest relative to the extinct Atlantosuchus.[4]

  1. ^ New Long-Snouted Dyrosaurid (Crocodylomorpha, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of Northeastern Colombia. Hastings, Alexander, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Bloch, Jonathan, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida, US. [1]
  2. ^ "Dyrosaurid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) fossils from the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene of Mali : implications for phylogeny and survivorship across the K-T boundary". American Museum Novitates, no. 3631. Hill, Robert V., McCartney, Jacob A., Roberts, Eric M., Bouaré, Mohamed L., Sissoko, Famory., O'Leary, Maureen Ann. 2008. [2].
  3. ^ a b c d Jouve, Stephane (2007). "Taxonomic revision of the Dyrosaurid Assemblage (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of the Iullemmeden basin, west Africa". Journal of Paleontology. 81 (1): 163–175. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2007)81[163:TROTDA]2.0.CO;2.
  4. ^ Jouve, S., B. Bouya, and M. Amaghzaz (2008). A long-snouted dyrosaurid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of Morocco: phylogenetic and palaoebiogeographic implications. Palaeontology 51(2):281-294.