Fossil "cat Crocodile" Had Mammal-Like Teeth

[Nandomas]

Fossil "Cat Crocodile" Had Mammal-like Teeth

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100804-new-crocodile-fossil-pakasuchus-nature-science-mammal-teeth/

[Auspex]

Seems like notosuchians are full of surprises...

[ashcraft]

My knowledge of anatomy is fairly limited, but from the poor amount of the skull that was preserved, could it have been a primitive synapsid, like what was dominant during the Permian/Triassic? Those would be mammal relatives, making the teeth thing somewhat easier to explain. Pure speculation brought on by profound ignorance on the subject.

Brent Ashcraft

[jpc]

Brent-

Interesting thought. But to find a Permian/Triassic thing in the Cretaceous would be as odd as a mammal-like croc. No, its a croc. (Croc skull anatomy lesson for another day). I prepared the Pakasuchus skeleton in the video... one of the crown jewels of my portfolio. The skull is in much better shape than the CT video suggests... it was split in half in the field and that is just one half of it on CT. It is only missing the premaxilla. Its a spectacular fossil... I love it.

And if you look closely in the early scenes of the video... that's me helping (=supervising) to haul a big jacket out of the field... and I also saw at least one of my photos in that video and I'm listed in the credits at the end... cool. I never did look at the video when this first came out... silly me.

Edited November 29, 2010 by jpc

[Nandomas]

Brent-

Interesting thought. But to find a Permian/Triassic thing in the Cretaceous would be as odd as a mammal-like croc. No, its a croc. (Croc skull anatomy lesson for another day). I prepared the Pakasuchus skeleton in the video... one of the crown jewels of my portfolio. The skull is in much better shape than the CT video suggests... it was split in half in the field and that is just one half of it on CT. It is only missing the premaxilla. Its a spectacular fossil... I love it.

And if you look closely in the early scenes of the video... that's me helping (=supervising) to haul a big jacket out of the field... and I also saw at least one of my photos in that video and I'm listed in the credits at the end... cool. I never did look at the video when this first came out... silly me.

WOW JP, I didn't watch the video before your today post. Nice to see you Tanzanians at work!!! Congrats. Is that croc the skull you were cleaning two years ago?

Nando

Edited November 29, 2010 by Nandomas

[bruce]

JP, tell us more. Was it CT scanned before you prepared it? If so, did you have a copy of the scan to work with? Is this the croc skull pictured under your name in your posts? Is this the particular one you found and did you uncover the molars?

It would be great if you would post some pictures and tell us more about the prep process?

You're a good writer, please consider giving us an account of the trip, i.e. "It was a dark and stormy night, flies buzzed, leeches slithered, lions crouched. The rivers ran with diarrhea" You know . . . the usual field notes made into a book, that we've all bought and read.

[jpc]

JP, tell us more. Was it CT scanned before you prepared it? If so, did you have a copy of the scan to work with? Is this the croc skull pictured under your name in your posts? Is this the particular one you found and did you uncover the molars?

It would be great if you would post some pictures and tell us more about the prep process?

You're a good writer, please consider giving us an account of the trip, i.e. "It was a dark and stormy night, flies buzzed, leeches slithered, lions crouched. The rivers ran with diarrhea" You know . . . the usual field notes made into a book, that we've all bought and read.

Bruce- a few quick answers...

Before prepping it we scanned it on a medical machine, and the scans were not as useful as I would have liked. The scans in the story is done on Ohio U's microCT machine which is at least 100x more detailed than a hospital machine.

I did not find this one, but I did help collect it. And no, I could not uncover the molars. The jaws were clamped too tightly. I prepared a partial specimen of the same critter the year before we went. It was just lower jaws and a bit of the maxilla (tightly clenched again), so I was able to expose the lower molars much better.

I'd love to post more pix and tell the tale, but .... heck, I like the way you've started it.. you can write it and I'll fact check it...

The skull under my avatar is a Peratherium skull... Oligocene marsupial from the Douglas area... I think you know the place. The skull is about an inch long.

Nando-

Yes, this is the skull I was cleaning two years ago. Were you guys here two years ago? I can't rememebr when I last saw you guys.

Edited December 6, 2010 by jpc

[Nandomas]

Nando-

Yes, this is the skull I was cleaning two years ago. Were you guys here two years ago? I can't rememebr when I last saw you guys.

It was when you did a call for us to Bill Wahl at Wyoming Dinosaur Center... that's the result:

http://www.fossiliveraci.org/paleomuseum/150-wyoming-dinosaur-center-archaeopteryx-n10