Gobiosuchidae
Encyclopedia
Gobiosuchidae is a family
of Late Cretaceous
crocodyliforms
that lived in what is now the Gobi Desert
in Mongolia
.
and Zaraasuchus
.
united by the following synapomorphies:
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
crocodyliforms
Crocodyliformes
Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians."In 1988, Michael J. Benton and James M. Clark argued that all traditional names for well-known groups of animals should be restricted to their crown clades, that is, used only for...
that lived in what is now the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
.
Genera
The two genera currently classified within Gobiosuchidae are GobiosuchusGobiosuchus
Gobiosuchus was a gobiosuchid crocodyliform described in 1972 by Polish palaeontologist Halszka Osmólska. It hails from the Late Cretaceous of Bayn Dzak , in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia....
and Zaraasuchus
Zaraasuchus
Zaraasuchus was a gobiosuchid crocodyliform described in 2004 by Diego Pol and Mark Norell. It was found in the Red Beds of Zos Canyon, in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, thus making it Late Cretaceous in age....
.
Synapomorphies
According to Pol & Norell (2004), gobiosuchids form a cladeClade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
united by the following synapomorphies:
- Parietal without broad occipital portion
- Absence of external mandibular fenestra
- More than two parallel rows of dorsal osteoderms
- Cranial table as wide as ventral portion of skull
- Palpebrals sutured to each other and the frontal, excluding it from the orbital margin
- External surface of ascending process of jugal exposed posterolaterally
- Longitudinal ridge on lateral surface of jugal below infratemporal fenestra
- Dorsal surface of posterolateral process of squamosal ornamented with three longitudinal ridges
- Presence of a sharp ridge along ventral surface of angular
- Surangular with a longitudinal ridge on its dorsolateral surface
- Dorsal surface of osteoderms ornamented with anterolaterally and anteromedially directed ridges
- Cervical region surrounded by lateral and ventral osteoderms sutured to the dorsal elements
- Presence of appendicular osteoderms
- Closed, or incipiently close, supratemporal fenestra