Turnersuchus hingleyae, a new genus and species of thalattosuchian crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic epoch, helps fill a gap in the fossil record and suggests that thalattosuchians, with other crocodyliforms, should have originated around the end of the Triassic period — around 15 million years further back in time than when Turnersuchus hingleyae lived.
Life reconstruction of Turnersuchus hingleyae. Image credit: Júlia d’Oliveira.
Thalattosuchians, referred to colloquially as ‘marine crocodiles’ or ‘sea crocodiles,’ were prominent members of marine ecosystems from the Early Jurassic through the Early Cretaceous epoch.
They appear abruptly in the fossil record with high species richness, suggesting rapid diversification during the Toarcian age, between 183 and 174 million years ago.
Less than ten species are currently known from this time period across a wide geographic distribution. While most specimens are found in Europe, specimens have also been reported from China, Argentina, and Madagascar.
The newly-identified species, Turnersuchus hingleyae, lived in what is now the United Kingdom, some 185 million years ago.
“We should now expect to find more thalattosuchians of the same age as Turnersuchus hingleyae as well as older,” said Dr. Eric Wilberg, a paleontologist in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University