Crocodylian remains from the late Paleocene of Jibou, Romania

Venczel, Márton and Sabău, Izabella and Codrea, Vlad A. (2021) Crocodylian remains from the late Paleocene of Jibou, Romania. NYMPHAEA: FOLIA NATURAE BIHARIAE, 48. pp. 77-108. ISSN 0253-4649

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Abstract

Here we report the presence of a planocraniid crocodyliform from the late Paleocene of Jibou (N-W Romania) representing one of the geologically earliest fossil records of this group from Europe. The recovered cranial and postcranial remains resulted probably from an attritional assemblage and may have belonged to a single planocraniid taxon. The morphological traits of this taxon (cf. Boverisuchus) include among others an interlocking occlusion in the premaxilla, a flat cranial table with upturned orbital margins, a large exposure of the supraoccipital on the dorsal skull table, procoelous presacral vertebrae, keeled paramedian osteoderms lacking an anterior process, and mediolaterally compressed teeth possessing fine and irregularly distributed serrations on the mesiodistal carinae of the tooth crowns. The planocraniid crocodyliforms identified from the Paleocene of Romania mark an important paleogeographic link between the Chinese, European and North American occurrences. The lacustrine taphonomic context in the Jibou fossil locality is suggested by the presence of strictly limnic ostracods and gastropods, as well as other freshwater preferring groups including teleostei fishes and dortokid turtles. The planocraniid crocodyliforms might have acted as top predators in these freshwater habitats.

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