Dinosaur Lab

Research

Crocodilians

Susisuchus anatoceps, a new crocodilian from the Lower Cretaceous of north-eastern Brazil. From Salisbury et al. (2003).

Australian Cenozoic crocodylians

The majority of Australia's Cenozoic crocodilians are thought to belong to endemic radiation known as Mekosuchinae. Despite their apparent ecological and geographical diversity, many of these crocodilians went extinct on the Australian mainland not long after the arrival of Crocodylus, sometime towards the end of the Pliocene. By the end of the Pleistocene, all of them had vanished. On many of the South Pacific islands, however, some mekosuchines persisted. Some, such as New Caledonia's Mekosuchus inexpectatus, survived into historic times. Ongoing research into Australia's Cenozoic crocodylians is being conducted in by PhD candidate Jorgo Risevtski in collaboration with Dr Paul Willis, Dr Ralph Molnar and Tim Holt, a former Honours student at The University of Queensland.

Cretaceous crocodyliforms

Eusuchia is the group that includes all living crocodilians - true crocodiles, alligators and caimans, and gharials. Eusuchians first appear in the fossil record during the Early Cretaceous.  With the discovery of Isisfordia in the 101 million year old rocks of the Winton Formation near Isisford, central-western Queensland, there is now good evidence to believe that eusuchians originated in the Australian part of Gondwana.  Some of the immediate precursors to Isisfordia are also Gondwanan, such as Susisuchus, from the Lower Cretaceous of north-eastern Brazil.  

In addition to further research on Isisfordia, much of our research into the origin of eusuchians focuses on their immediate precursers, the 'advanced' neosuchians. Various types of neosuchians are known from the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck and Wealden Groups of southern England. This material includes goniopholidids, atoposaurids and pholidosaurids. Reviewing the taxonomy and osteology of many of these crocodilians and their continental counterparts has proved to be the basis of much fruitful collaboration.