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Repeated evolution of herbivorous crocodyliforms during the age of dinosaurs Project ID: 00000C731 Public
33 Media · 15 Specimens · Managed by: Keegan Melstrom

Extinct crocodyliforms from the age of dinosaurs (Mesozoic Era) display an impressive range of skeletal morphologies, suggesting a diversity of ecological roles not found in living representatives. In particular, unusual dental morphologies develop repeatedly through the evolutionary history of this group. Recent descriptions of fossil crocodyliforms and their unusual teeth provide the inferential basis for a wide range of feeding ecologies. However, tests of these hypotheses are hindered by the lack of directly comparable dental morphology in living reptiles and mammals, thereby preventing an accurate ecosystem reconstruction. Here we demonstrate using the orientation patch count rotated method that Mesozoic crocodyliforms exploited a much greater range of feeding ecologies than their extant relatives, including likely omnivores and herbivores. These results also indicate that crocodyliforms independently developed high-complexity dentitions a minimum of three times. Some taxa possess teeth that surpass the complexities of living herbivorous lizards and rival those of omnivorous and herbivorous mammals. This study indicates herbivorous crocodyliforms were more common than previously thought and were present throughout the Mesozoic and on most continents. The occurrence of multiple origins of complex dentitions throughout Crocodyliformes indicates that herbivory was a beneficial dietary strategy and not a unique occurrence. Many of these crocodyliforms lived alongside omnivorous or herbivorous synapsids, illustrating an ecological partition that is not observed today.

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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000073347 UCMP:V:130082 Edentosuchus sp. Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073342 UCMP:V:97638 Undescribed protosuchian Mesh 2019-04-02 Restricted Download  
000073340 Premaxillary and anterior maxillary dentition ua:8679 Simosuchus clarki Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073339 Dentary ua:8679 Simosuchus clarki Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073335 Dentary dentition UCMP:V:170767 Boverisuchus vorax Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073330 Dentary dentition rrbp:08631 Pakasuchus kapilimai Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073329 Maxillary teeth rrbp:08631 Pakasuchus kapilimai Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073327 Premaxillary and maxillary teeth macn:rn:1127 Notosuchu terrestris Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073116 Dentary mn:6756-V Mariliasuchus amarali Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
000073114 Dentary teeth mn:6756-V Mariliasuchus amarali Mesh 2019-04-02 Open Download  
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