Niger Crocodilians

[BellamyBlake]

Hi,

 

I won an auction for 4 Crocodilian teeth from the Elrhaz Formation of Niger. They're Lower Cretaceous. The seller noted that he could not identify them definitively as Sarcosuchus, or another Crocodilian from the locality.

 

I hope these photographs are enough to identify them. Otherwise, I can get more photographs when they arrive. Largest one is 1.4"

 

Thank you,

Bellamy

[FF7_Yuffie]

Nice, I put a bid in for these. Glad they found a good home though.

 

I did see there are apparently only 3 named crocs from that formation. I ruled one out (Araripesuchus) because I have a tooth from that and it doesnt resemble these.

 

Also, Anatosuchus is ludicrously small. I dunno if there are a bunch of undescribed crocs from there that they could be from though.

 

 

Did you buy one of the Sarcosuchus sets too?

Edited March 20, 2021 by FF7_Yuffie

[Troodon]

Pretty hard to identify isolated croc teeth but they are not robust enough to definitively be called sarcosuchus.  Might be.  Do you have a locality where these are from?  I'm always concerned with material from Niger that locality is not properly identified since material is passed through many hands.  The default is Sarcosuchus from Elrhaz Fm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BellamyBlake]

10 hours ago, FF7_Yuffie said:

Nice, I put a bid in for these. Glad they found a good home though.

 

I did see there are apparently only 3 named crocs from that formation. I ruled one out (Araripesuchus) because I have a tooth from that and it doesnt resemble these.

 

Also, Anatosuchus is ludicrously small. I dunno if there are a bunch of undescribed crocs from there that they could be from though.

 

 

Did you buy one of the Sarcosuchus sets too?

 

Thank you! It'll probably be a process of working through the other two Crocs to see if it resembles either once they arrive in person. It'll help to have them on hand so I can have a closer look at measurement ratios. I got two of the Sarcosuchus sets. I suppose I'll also have to confirm that those are actually Sarcosuchus once they arrive. Did you win one?

 

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

Pretty hard to identify isolated croc teeth but they are not robust enough to definitively be called sarcosuchus.  Might be.  Do you have a locality where these are from?  I'm always concerned with material from Niger that locality is not properly identified since material is passed through many hands.  The default is Sarcosuchus from Elrhaz Fm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only locality noted was Gadoufaoua, Téneré Desert. I'm not very experienced with Niger material, but from what I have seen, that's the default locality, so I'm not sure how helpful that is. It might be helpful if I wait until they arrive and post more angles/measurements then

[Troodon]

That locality fits with Elrhaz Fm.  I have not seen much published on teeth and we really don't know if other large croc's exist in that fauna that would fit your teeth.  When you get your teeth check the one in the far right to see if it has fine serrations 

 

Here is a wiki photo of Sarcosuchus teeth 

[BellamyBlake]

59 minutes ago, Troodon said:

That locality fits with Elrhaz Fm.  I have not seen much published on teeth and we really don't know if other large croc's exist in that fauna that would fit your teeth.  When you get your teeth check the one in the far right to see if it has fine serrations 

 

Here is a wiki photo of Sarcosuchus teeth 

Thank you. The seller also has on auction Stolokrosuchus teeth from Niger. They seem to be about the same length as Sarcosuchus teeth, though not as broad. Photograph below. The ones that I bought may be Stolokrosuchus, or perhaps Sarcosuchus; the ones you showed me above seem to have some narrower ones. In any case, it may be too hard to tell and I may leave them as indeterminate.

 

The far right one has striations that imply Suchomimus, yeah? Is that why you mentioned the fine serrations?

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by BellamyBlake

[Troodon]

14 minutes ago, BellamyBlake said:

Is that why you mentioned the fine serrations?

Yes

 

21 minutes ago, BellamyBlake said:

The seller also has on auction Stolokrosuchus teeth from Niger

Possible they are not identified to the Elrhaz Fm and I know nothing about the croc.  Just that they are same age and area..  Read that it's similar to Elosuchus of the KK.   Not sure its valid no one else references them???? 

[BellamyBlake]

2 hours ago, Troodon said:

Yes

 

Possible they are not identified to the Elrhaz Fm and I know nothing about the croc.  Just that they are same age and area..  Read that it's similar to Elosuchus of the KK.   Not sure its valid no one else references them???? 

 

I couldn't find many mentions of Stolokrosuchus, but Fossilworks has a page about it. It was described in 2000.

 

H. C. E. Larsson and B. Gado. 2000. A new Early Cretaceous crocodyliform from Niger. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 217(1):131-141

 

Unfortunately I can't find the article itself through my university database. It would've been useful for identifying the teeth I have here. ResearchGate does have an abstract of it:

 

"Stolokrosuchus lapparenti n.g.n.sp. from Aptian rocks exhibits clear autapomorphies and shares many features with the peirosaurid crocodyliforms from Upper Cretaceous deposits in South America. A phylogenetic analysis groups Stolokrosuchus with these taxa in a monophyletic assemblage and places the clade of peirosaurid crocodyliforms as the sister-taxon of Eusuchia. The Early Cretaceous occurrence of Stolokrosuchus suggests a greater temporal and geographic distribution for Peirosauridae. Additional Early Cretaceous crocodyliforms share a similar South American - African distribution, further supporting a faunal communication between these continents up until at least the Aptian."

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285683839_A_new_Early_Cretaceous_crocodyliform_from_Niger

Edited March 20, 2021 by BellamyBlake

[Troodon]

That's where I found my info.  Here is some additional info

 

http://www.paleofile.com/Mesosuchia/Stolokrosuchus.asp

[BellamyBlake]

On 3/20/2021 at 6:21 PM, Troodon said:

That's where I found my info.  Here is some additional info

 

http://www.paleofile.com/Mesosuchia/Stolokrosuchus.asp

Thank you!