Marine crocodile vertebrae: what's the difference?

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Hi all,

I recently took some more interest in crocodile vertebrae, an area that I haven't really touched on before. Now I already knew that the vertebrae of marine crocodiles differ from those of more terrestrial species as Thalattosuchia have platycoelous vertebral centrums, whereas other crocodylomorphs have procoelous vertebrae. Within Thalattosuchia, however, the two major branches superficially (at least) seem to have rather similar "waisted" vertebrae. So, what I was wondering about was how one can tell Metriorhynchid vertebrae apart from Teleosaurid ones. Anyone here that could help me with that?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Not sure, but just realised you might have an idea, @caterpillar?

[caterpillar]

It is practically impossible. A vertebra from Metryorhynchus and one from Steneosaurus have the same shape

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

4 hours ago, caterpillar said:

It is practically impossible. A vertebra from Metryorhynchus and one from Steneosaurus have the same shape

Thanks! That's what I thought following my investigation. But I wasn't sure whether this was just an artefact of my own research sample or the actual state of things. I'm still awaiting some literature that I hope will help me improve my knowledge... Anyway, now I know