Allodaposuchidae Explained

Allodaposuchidae is an extinct clade of eusuchians that lived in Europe during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian).^{[1] [2] [3]}

Systematics

The type genus, Allodaposuchus, was originally described in 1928 by Nopcsa from the Maastrichtian-age Sard Formation of the Hațeg Basin in Transylvania, Romania, and classified as a relative of the North American Leidyosuchus.^[4] It was later classified as a eusuchian outside of Crocodylia in a 2001 paper,^[5] and subsequent studies found a number of European eusuchian species (Arenysuchus, Ischyrochampsa, Massaliasuchus, Musturzabalsuchus) to group with Allodaposuchus, prompting the erection of the clade Allodaposuchidae to accommodate Allodaposuchus and all European eusuchians closely related to it.^{[2] [3] [6] [7] [8]} Narváez et al. cladistically defined Allodaposuchidae in 2015 as Allodaposuchus precedens and all crocodyliforms more closely related to it than to Hylaeochampsa vectiana, Shamosuchus djadochtaensis, Borealosuchus sternbergii, Planocrania datangensis, Alligator mississippiensis, Crocodylus niloticus, or Gavialis gangeticus.^{[2] [9]}

The exact placement of Allodaposuchidae is still in dispute. Narváez et al. considered it the sister group to Hylaeochampsidae, which together form a clade that is sister to Crocodylia.^[2] Other studies have alternatively recovered them not as sister taxon, but rather as an evolutionary grade towards Crocodylia, with Hylaeochampsidae more basal than Allodaposuchidae.^{[10] [9]} Alternatively, a 2021 analysis incorporating postcranial information recovered Allodaposuchidae within Crocodylia.^[11]

Cladogram 1: Narváez et al., 2015Cladogram 2: Rio & Mannion, 2021Cladogram 3: Blanco, 2021

The internal phylogeny of Allodaposuchidae can be shown in the cladogram below from the 2021 Blanco study:^[11] In the 2021 study, Blanco recovered Allodaposuchus as paraphyletic, with Agaresuchus and Lohuecosuchus. Accordingly, Blanco proposed that Agaresuchus and Lohuecosuchus should be considered junior synonyms of Allodaposuchus.^[11]

Notes and References

1. Hristova, L.. 2020. Description of Crocodylomorph Teeth from the Late Cretaceous Locality near Tran, Western Bulgaria. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie Bulgare des Sciences. 73. 3. 379–385. 10.7546/CRABS.2020.03.11.
2. Narváez . Iván . Brochu . Christopher A. . Escaso . Fernando . Pérez-García . Adán . Ortega . Francisco . 2015 . New crocodyliforms from southwestern Europe and definition of a diverse clade of European Late Cretaceous basal eusuchians . PLOS ONE . 10 . 11. e0140679 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0140679 . 26535893 . 4633049. 2015PLoSO..1040679N . free .
3. Narváez . I. . Brochu . C.A. . Escaso . F. . Pérez-García . A. . Ortega . F. . New Spanish Late Cretaceous eusuchian reveals the synchronic and sympatric presence of two allodaposuchids . Cretaceous Research . 2016 . 65. 112–125. 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.04.018 . 2016CrRes..65..112N . free .
4. Nopcsa F., 1928 – Paleontological notes on Reptilia. 7. Classification of the Crocodilia – Geologica Hungarica, Series Palaeontologica 1: 75–84.
5. Buscalioni . A. D. . Ortega . F. . Weishampel . D. B. . Jianu . C. M. . 2001 . A revision of the crocodyliform Allodaposuchus precedens from the Upper Cretaceous of the Hateg Basin, Romania. Its relevance in the phylogeny of Eusuchia . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 21 . 74–86 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0074:AROTCA]2.0.CO;2 . 86129560 .
6. Martin . J. E. . Delfino . M. . Garcia . G. . Godefroit . P. . Berton . S. . Valentin . X. . 2016 . New specimens of Allodaposuchus precedens from France: intraspecific variability and the diversity of European Late Cretaceous eusuchians . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 176 . 3 . 607–631 . 10.1111/zoj.12331 . free .
7. Blanco . Alejandro . Fortuny . Josep . Vicente . Alba . Luján . Àngel H. . García-Marçà . Jordi Alexis . Sellés . Albert G. . 2015 . A new species of Allodaposuchus (Eusuchia, Crocodylia) from the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Spain: Phylogenetic and paleobiological implications . PeerJ . 3 . e1171 . 10.7717/peerj.1171 . 26339549 . 4558081 . free .
8. Blanco . A. . Puértolas-Pascual . E. . Marmi . J. . Vila . B. . Sellés . A. G. . 2014 . Allodaposuchus palustris sp. nov. From the Upper Cretaceous of Fumanya (South-Eastern Pyrenees, Iberian Peninsula): Systematics, Palaeoecology and Palaeobiogeography of the Enigmatic Allodaposuchian Crocodylians . PLOS ONE . 9 . 12. e115837 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0115837 . 25551630 . 4281157. 2014PLoSO...9k5837B . free .
9. Rio . Jonathan P. . Mannion . Philip D. . 6 September 2021 . Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem . . 9 . e12094 . 10.7717/peerj.12094 . 34567843 . 8428266 . free.
10. Michael S. Y. Lee . Adam M. Yates . 27 June 2018 . Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil . . 285 . 1881 . 10.1098/rspb.2018.1071 . 30051855 . 6030529 . free.
11. Blanco . Alejandro . 2021-06-09 . Importance of the postcranial skeleton in eusuchian phylogeny: Reassessing the systematics of allodaposuchid crocodylians . . en . 16 . 6 . e0251900 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0251900 . 1932-6203 . 8189472 . 34106925 . 2021PLoSO..1651900B . free.