Caipirasuchus catanduvensis: A vocal sphagesaurid?
A new "crocodile" was just published and one with some fascinating implications.
The new taxon is Caipirasuchus catanduvensis, the sixth species of Caipirasuchus described so far. As a sort of broad overview, Caipirasuchus is a genus of small-bodied sphagesaurid notosuchian, reaching about 1 meter in length. As sphagesaurids, the genus is most closely related to the likes of Yacarerani, Adamantinasuchus as well as the robust Armadillosuchus.
Another interesting thing about Caipirasuchus, and one that's gonna come back later, is how close they are in terms of geography. Of the six species, all are from Brazil's Bauru Group. 5/6 are from the Adamantina Formation and 5/6 are Sao Paulo State. So unlike the also specious Araripesuchus, these are all comparably limited in their distribution.
left: Caipirasuchus escaping baurusuchids by Deverson da Silva
right: Generalized Caipirasuchus distribution adapted from Iori et al. 2024
Now what is interesting about this new species is a certain feature referred to as the pterygoid chamber, a hollow pocket in the pterygoid bone, that is notably more complex and pronounced than in other Caipirasuchus species (thus also why it was given its own name). Now an older study using CT scans already showed that this chamber connects to the choanal septum, which functions as a sort of air duct that connects the pterygoid chamber with the airways of the animal. There is also a secondary chamber and evidence that suggest that these structures grew more complex as the animal aged.
Now, the interesting part is that this combination of large hollow bone pockets with the airways is seen in some other animals as well, notably the wildebeest Rusingoryx and hadrosaurs, in which the pockets serve as a resonating chamber. As was already suggested in 2020, this might mean that Caipirasuchus catanduvensis had a much more complex range of vocalisations, which in turn would have a large influence on social behavior.
Now remember how I brought up how all the species of Caipirasuchus lived in a fairly enclosed area relative to Araripesuchus, the other specious notosuchian? Well one hypothesis proposes that this rapid speciation was driven not by dietary preferences, but by them refining their vocalisation and social structure. This in turn might be tied to environmental factors (like needing to be louder in more crowded, forested environments).
One pointer to this being the case is how species of Caipirasuchus differ from each other. Rather than skull shape or even the teeth, the main differences seem to be found in the palate, i.e. a region of the skull that would be tied to vocalisation. Another, albeit more tenuous, piece of evidence stems from the senses of what was likely a major predator of Caipirasuchus. Baurusuchids, larger predator notosuchians growing up to 3 meters in length, appear to have a complex outer ear (meatal chamber specifically), which indicates that they had good hearing. We also know that they did feed on sphagesaurids, as evidenced by a specimen of Aplestosuchus being preserved with one (possibly Caipirasuchus) found in its stomach contents. So by extension, it would not be unreasonable to assume that baurusuchids used their good hearing to track down noisy Caipirasuchus. Though more research is required of course.
left: Aplestosuchus and its prey by Rodolfo Nogueira
right: various images from Godoy et al. 2014 featuring the fossil material of Aplestosuchus
All of this is of course fascinating. Crocodiles and their extinct kin are rarely viewed as very vocal, despite the fact that modern crocodilians have a great range of sounds at their disposal. Of course we're all familiar with the sounds hatchlings make (often likened to video game ray gun sounds), but crocodiles are also able to reproduce a wide range of grows, bellows and other sounds one might even compare to roars as adults. Just these past two years we have found evidence of dwarf crocodiles in the Congo making "mooing" sounds while the extinct Hanyusuchus, a gharial that died out during China's bronze age, has both historical and anatomical evidence for producing loud sounds.
Examples of vocalisations in African Dwarf Crocodiles and a male Indian Gharial
And finally, to cap this off, I want to leave you with the paper's artwork of the new species, illustrated by Guilherme Gehr. An interesting thing I noticed, but can only speculate on, is the fact that the two individuals have different colours, which might be a cheeky reference to the alternate hypothesis that the resonance chamber is sexually dimorphic (although this theory is largely dismissed on account of C. catanduvensis having other distinguishing features beyond just the pterygoid chamber.
Sitting on an adamantine throne
There was Athena, Goddess far above
The honorable lady of the glaucous eyes
Witnessing the movements of
a devout wanderer
A voice sharp as an owl's screech
Inspiring them with a sliver of divine bliss
portuguese:
Sentada em um trono de adamantina
Estava Atena, Deusa mui' acima
A honrosa senhora dos glaucos olhos
Testemunhando os movimentos de
Um errante devoto
A voz afiada como o chirriar da coruja
Inspirando-o com um silvo de graça divina
Compendium of Enantiornithean Late Cretaceous Jaws
Adamantina Formation enantiornithean jaw from Wu et al 2021.
I still remember the Mirarce paper and its authors’ decisions to depict the eponymous bird with a toothless beak. This decision was based on an assumption that, by the Late Cretaceous, most Enantiornithes had lost their teeth, concurrent with increased speciations towards powered flight and large sizes.
Yet, in recent years it has become increasingly clear that there was no “end goal” for the evolution of toothlessness in birds, with many taxa remaining toothed until the very end of the Mesozoic. Thus, no specific reason for the opposite birds to have lost their teeth.
Still, fact of the matter is that very few cranial remains identified as Enantiornithes date to the Late Cretaceous. While most sepcimens are predictably fragmentary, a few are almost complete, rendering this a frustrating puzzle. For example. Neuquenornis retains a fairly complete skeleton aside from the jaws, a skull well preserved aside from the front. Classic spiteful gods.
Hence, I’ve decided to make a small compendium of known enantiornithean jaw material from the Late Cretaceous.
Gobipteryx (and Gobipipus)
A menagerie of materials associated with embryonic Gobipteryx and Gobipipus, Chatterjee et al 2013.
For most of history the most well preserved Late Cretaceous enantiornithean material came from Asia. The taxa Gobipteryx occurs in Campanian-aged deposits of the Gobi Desert, and includes a myriad of exquisitely preserved material ranging from adults to embryonic remains. A lot of our understanding of the lifecycle of Enantiornithes in fact comes from these animals, hatchlings being supreprecocial and able to fly nigh immediately after birth.
Another more controversial taxon is Gobipipus, known from much the same deposits. Its known almost exclusively from embryonic specimens and several researchers have argued that it differs substantially from embryos assigned to Gobipteryx, but this debate is on-going.
Both birds lack teeth, instead having a keratinous beak whose upper jaw curves upwards. The bony components of the beak differ drastically from those of modern birds, with the maxilla being well developed and forming a large part of the upper jaw margin instead of being reduced as in modern birds, and it’s still unclear if it was capable of cranial kinesis like modern birds do. The ecology of these animals is also rather unclear; they come from what were in life arid environments, but some have suggested a piscivorous lifestyle for these birds, which would be in line wth some studies finding them closely related to the piscivorous longipterygids and Halimornis (see supplementary material). Maybe some sort of seagull-like ecology, foraging in desert lakes?
Regardless, this painted a picture for Late Cretaceous Enantiornithes, and no doubt inspired the decision of the peeps on the Mirarce paper. Thankfully, other, more recent discoveries seem to be putting this to rest.
Adamantina Enantiornitheans
More material from Wu et al 2021
The Adamantina Formation dates to the Late Cretaceous, somewhere between the Campanian and the Maastrichtian depending on estimates. A partcular quarry, known as “William’s Quarry”, has wielded a massive amount of fairly well preserved enantiornithean fossils. These birds have not yet been described, but they are so complete that a study about their tooth replacement patterns was even possible.
Unlike the Mongolian birds, these ones clearly have teeth. Curiously, their snout shape is rather similar to that of modern raptors, the jaws ending on a hook. However, unlike contemporary birds like Ichthyornis, these hooks end not in a beak, but still host teeth, which is frankly amazing. I’m assuming they probably were hawk or falcon like animals, but given their rather unique snout morphology a more specialised diet like that of snail kites is also a possibility.
These animals clearly prove that toothed opposite-birds endured until the end of the Mesozoic, and considering avisaurids have typically been reconstructed as raptor-like birds I’m assuming Mirarce probably also had teeth.
Yuornis
Yuornis material from Xu et al 2021.
In 2021 a brand new completed enantiornithean was found in Henan, China. Roughly contemporary to the Mongolian birds, the ensuing phylogenetic study actually groups Yuornis with them, but the authors rejected this as bias due to toothlessness and elected to not make it part of Gobipterygidae.
Like gobipterygids Yuornis lacks teeth, but has a substantially different beak morphology, hence why the reluctance to consider it closely related t them. For starters its maxilla is more reduced (albeit much larger than in modern birds) while its premaxilla approaches the modern condition. Its beak is also rather narrow, and does not curve upwards. Combined with strong wings and perching feet, this seems like a Mesozoic analogue for a small corvid like a jay or magpie. No mentions of cranial kinesis are made, but several palatal elements are similar to more derived birds so it might have been able to do so.
If unrelated to gobipterygids, Yuornis represents a second lineage of toothless opposite-birds. This is not unsual as birds as a whole lost teeth multiple times and the same likely applied to Enantiornithes, but its clear by now that this was not the norm for the last enantiornitheans.
Falcatakely
From O’Connor et al 2020.
Falcatakely was found just two years ago and shows one of the most derived Mesozoic avian beaks of all time, with a maxive maxila and nasal while the premaxila is tiny, the polar opposite of modern birds. Small peg-like teeth line the end of the jaws, while the rostrum itself is deep and curved, resembling that of a toucan. It would then join hornbills and true toucans in the convergent evolution club.
But there’s a reason I left this for last. Several reseachers are not convinced it is actually an enantiornithe, with a viable alternative by Mickey Mortimer being an omnivoropterygid. Sapeornis like birds are known from Falcatakely‘s Maastrichtian locale in Madagascar, but so are pengornithid enantiornitheans (which coincidentaly match O’Connor et al 2020’s phylogenetic results for this bird). In the end, more evidence will be needed to determine it either way.
Conclusion
Its clear that Late Cretaceous Enantiornithes had a wide variety of lifestyles and ecologies, and with that came a variety of jaw anatomies. Some groups did indeed become toothless, but it is patently clear that many toothed species lived all the way to the end.
Okay so I was scouring jojowiki.com as usual and it says there that Diego's dinosaur form is based on an outdated record of a Utahraptor, and I don't know anything about them but I have a slight suspicion they were found in Utah.
I dunno just thought it was funny how to the point the name is. "it's a raptor in Utah, let's call it Utahraptor"
You blame Jim Kirkland over on his twitter for naming them that.
But yeah, "[Place name]saurus [place name]ensis" is a meme in the paleocommunity for a reason. (The word "ensis" meaning "from [place name]".) Image souce: Adam-Loves-Dinosaurs.
I think Utahraptor is probably the most famous one. When another large dromeosaur was found in Dakota, DePalma felt it natural to smash the usual dromeosaur suffix of "raptor" with the prefix of [Place name] to name Dakotaraptor.
A dinosaur not many realise was intended to be named after a place is Mamenchisaurus. (Source: Cervente on Tumblr)
It was discovered in (yes I'm using Wikipedia's text) Mǎmíngxī (马鸣溪 'horse-neighing brook') by Yang Zhongjian (楊鍾健), grandfather of Chinese Palaeontology. However, Yang wasn't from the area and mistook the intonation for the locale name. So he ended up calling it (馬門溪龍屬), from Mǎménxī (马门溪 'horse-gate brook').
That's probably the most fun one I can think of, but the others are like...
Koreacertops. Aegyptosaurus. Argentinosaurus. Patagotitan (Patagonia). Chilesaurus (Chile, but apparently it sounds like "dick" in latin countries?) Edmontosaurus (Canadian province, Edmonton). Albertosaurus (Candadian province Alberta, named after Princess Louise Carolina Alberta... named after Prince Albert). Gondwanasuchus (A crocodile actually, that was found in São Paulo, you know where, which USED to be part of the supercontinent Gondwana). Adamantisaurus is named from the same formation the croc was found, Adamantina.
Probably the most common kind of argument on the internet regarding dinosaurs at the moment is names and... IMO, it's not worth it unless it's REALLY bad or a bit mishandled, like Kuru kulla or Mamenchisaurus. But then, that's what the ICZN (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature) is usually for.
Anyway, Thanos is the worst dinosaur name in current use. Grapes, I need your Brazilian Portuguese expertise to write a strongly worded letter to Rafael Delcourt and Fabiano Vidoi Iori on good naming conventions. Obrigado Uva!
Akavir significa Terra del Drago, Tamriel significa "Splendore dellAlba", mentre Atmora significa "Foresta degli Antenati". Soltanto i Guardiarossa sanno cosa mai abbia significato Yokuda.
Akavir è il regno delle bestie. Nessun uomo o elfo vive nelle terre di Akavir, sebbene un tempo gli uomini vi dimorassero. Tuttavia quegli uomini furono divorati innumerevoli anni or sono dal vampiresco Popolo Serpente di Tsaesci. Per certo, se non fossero stati divorati, essi sarebbero infine migrati nelle terre di Tamriel. I Nord lasciarono Atmora alla volta di Tamriel. Ancor prima, gli gli Elfi avevano abbandonato Aldmeris per stabilirsi su Tamriel. I Guardiarossa distrussero Yokuda in modo da poter intraprendere il loro viaggio. Ogni Uomo o Elfo riconosce in Tamriel il legame con la creazione stessa, dove fu combattuta l'Ultima Guerra e dove gli Dei deposero Lorkhan e lasciarono i loro segreti nella Torre Adamantina. Nessuno sa cosa gli Akaviri pensano di Tamriel, ma è sufficiente chiedersi: perché essi hanno tentato per ben tre volte o forse più di invadere quelle terre?
Vi sono quattro principali nazioni in Akavir: Kamal, Tsaesci, Tang Mo e Ka Po Tun. Quando non sono impegnati a tentare di invadere Tamriel, essi combattono fra di loro. Kamal è linferno di Neve, dove dimorano i demoni, interi eserciti di demoni. Ad ogni estate, al disgelo, essi escono da una sorta di letargo ed invadono Tang Mo, ma il fiero popolo-scimmia è sempre riuscito ad ricacciarli indietro. Una volta Ada'Soom Vir-Kamal, un re fra i demoni, tentò di conquistare Morrowind, ma Almalexia ed il Reggente distrussero le sue armate presso Monte Rosso.
Tsaesci è il Palazzo del Serpente, un tempo il più forte potere in Akavir (prima della venuta della Tigre-Drago). II popolo-serpente divorò tutti gli Uomini di Akavir molti secoli or sono, nondimeno essi appaiono piuttosto simili a loro. Essi sono alti, belli (sebbene alquanto spaventosi), ricoperti di squame dorate ed immortali. Essi asserviscono i goblin delle isole circostanti dai quali ottengono forza lavoro e sangue fresco. Le terre degli Tsaesci sono sparse ovunque. Quando i nativi di Tamriel immaginano gli Akaviri essi pensano al Popolo-Serpente, poiché uno di loro governò llmpero Cyrodilico per quattrocento anni nellera ormai passata. Egli era il Monarca Versidue-Shaie che fu assassinato dai Morag Tong.
Tang Mo è costituita dalle Isole delle Mille Scimmie. Il popolo-scimmia vanta numerosi generi, ma ognuno è gentile, fiero e semplice (e molti di loro sono inoltre assai folli). Essi possono costituire fieri eserciti quando sono costretti a farlo, poiché tutte le altre nazioni di Tamriel hanno, prima o poi, tentato di sottometterli al proprio dominio. Non saprebbero decidere quale dei loro nemici odiare di più, se il popolo-serpente o i demoni. Ma è sufficiente chiedere ad uno di loro ed egli probabilmente risponderà I Serpenti. Sebbene un tempo crudeli nemici, il popolo-scimmia adesso ha un fedele alleato nel popolo-felino di Ka Po' Tun.
Ka Po' Tun è llmpero della Tigre-Drago. Il popolo-felino è governato dal divino Tosh Raka, la Tigre-Drago. Essi sono adesso un vasto impero, assai più forte dellimpero Tsaesci (sebbene non per mare). Dopo che il popolo-serpente aveva divorato tutti gli uomini, essi tentarono di divorare tutti i Draghi. Riuscirono a dominare i Draghi Rossi, ma i Draghi Neri fuggirono alla volta di Po Tun. Divampò una feroce guerra che indeboli sia i felini che i serpenti e stermind tutti i Draghi. Da quel tempo i popolo-felino ha tentato di trasformarsi in Draghi. Tosh Raka fu il primo ad avere successo. Egli era il più grande Drago del mondo conosciuto, dal manto arancio e nero, ed aveva molte nuove idee.
Per primo, disse Tosh Raka, uccideremo tutti i serpenti vampiro. Poi llmperatore Tigre-Drago decise di invadere Tamriel.
VIAÇÕES
POSSUÍMOS EM NOSSA BASE AS PRINCIPAIS VIAÇÕES DO PAÍS. E COM O OBJETIVO DE MELHOR ATENDER NOSSOS CLIENTES ESTAMOS EM TRABALHO CONSTANTE PARA AMPLIARMOS NOSSAS PARCERIAS
1001
Açailândia
Adamantina
Águia Branca
Aguiar
Alfa Luz
Amarelinho
Amatur
Andorinha
Araguari
Araguarina
Araés
Asatur
Áries
Atual
Bragança
Brasileiro
Boa Esperança
Buscoop
Brasil…
Large caimans, seacow predation and a new pepesuchine
What a week we just had when it comes to fossil crocodile news. Not one, not two, but three whole publications dropped this last week, each noteworthy in its own way.
The first of these was "New taxa of giant caimans from the southernmost hyperdiverse wetlands of the South American late Miocene", which coined two new genera of caiman from the Argentinian Ituzaingó Formation.
Tho the names are new, both are far from unknown. The first of these is Paranacaiman bravardi, which was described based on a fossil traditionally associated with Caiman lutescens (now deemd a nomen dubium). The second is Paranasuchus gasparinae, which was already described in 2013 under the name Caiman gasparinae.
I will say that I find the names to be a little poorly chosen. On its own either one works, but together they are very similar and feel like they might cause some confusion down the line, at least in science communication.
But that's just my own opinion. Regardless of nomenclature, they are interesting. I am currently working on reconstructing Paranasuchus, but I did wrap up Paranacaiman with a simple reconstruction of the skull and a quick scaling, revealing it to have potentially been just shy of five meters in length.
Barely a day later we got hit with more Miocene croc news, specifically a short note on crocodilian feeding traces being identified on the fossils of the dugong Culebratherium from Venezuela. The animal has bitemarks all over its body, but highlighted are those centered around the skull. In addition to simple punctures, some bitemarks appear to showcase dragging and slashing, possibly associated with the well known deathroll performed my crocs. Alltogether, this could hint at the fact that one of the large crocodilians of the Agua Clara Formation might have grasped the seacow by its snout to drown it before tearing into it. Given that the fossil locality is fairly new and the fact that they are nothing but bite marks, we do not know what crocodilian was responsible, tho the paper suggests a small to medium sized caiman. Feeding traces also show that tiger sharks got involved at some point, which mirrors fossil evidence from the Austrian Paratethys.
Artwork of the possible predation event by Jaime Bran
And the final croc paper of last week takes us back quite a bit further, all the way back to the Cretaceous. Epoidesuchus tavaresae is a new species and genus of pepesuchine peirosaurid from the Adamantina Formation of Brazil, famous for its diversity of notosuchians (and apparent lack of modern crocs sans one exception).
Now for those unfamiliar, Pepesuchinae is a subfamily of Peirosaurids, best recognized by having slender, very crocodilian-like jaws that may indicate more semi-aquatic habits, as opposed to the more terrestrial and almost pig-like peirosaurines such as Uberabasuchus.
I should mention that theres some debate around the nomenclature. The paper follows the idea that Pepesuchinae is a subfamily of Peirosauridae, but a more recent paper (which at least two of the authors including the lead worked on) has Peirosaurinae and Pepesuchinae both as fully-fledged families, with the latter going by the name Itasuchidae (which is the older name). I should further mention that the nomenclature paper coined the clade Peirosauria to contain both these families and Mahajangasuchidae.
Anyways, tho fragmentary, we know that Epoidesuchus had the same narrow jaws as many other pepesuchines/itasuchids and was likely semi-aquatic. Given that neosuchians are rarer in South America, it seems very possible that their nische was largely filled by these specialised notosuchians, which strayed from the usual terrestrial habits of their group. In fact, tho many different notosuchians are known from the Bauru Group, the only neosuchian recovered so far is the recently named Titanochampsa.
Below the gorgeous press art by Guilherme Gehr
All three papers in order
New taxa of giant caimans from the southernmost hyperdiverse wetlands of the South American late Miocene: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology: Vol 22 , No 1 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)
Full article: Trophic interactions of sharks and crocodylians with a sea cow (Sirenia) from the Miocene of Venezuela (tandfonline.com)
A new Peirosauridae (Crocodyliformes, Notosuchia) from the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group, Late Cretaceous), with a revised phylogenetic analysis of Sebecia - Ruiz - The Anatomical Record - Wiley Online Library
Feitos de luz, os grandes Olimpianos
Sentaram em seu monte perscrutando o mundo
Zeus em seu trono de adamantina
Nas mãos um cetro de fulgor e plasma
Ladeado por Hera, do manto de nuvens
Ambos ouviram filhos e irmãos, recebendo as
Ofertas do começo de mês, então.
english:
Made of light, the great Olympians
Sat on their mount, surveying the world
Zeus on his adamantine throne
In the hands a scepter of radiance and plasma
Flanked by Hera, cloud-cloaked
Both listened their children and receiving then
The offerings of a new month beggining