Pseudopalatus: Amazing Phytosaur Skull
Those teeth!
This awesome Pseudopalatus #phytosaur skull is on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona. #Phytosaurs superficially resemble #crocodiles in skull and body. However, I’d say this skull is more intimidating than most (all?) extant #crocs, those teeth are savage!
One rarely (ever?) finds complete, articulated postcranial remains, even of Triassic, aquatic loving, phytosaurs. The longest of the Machaeroprosopus group (more on that in a bit) hit 16’ or so, rivaling the longest gators and approaching the longest extant crocodiles. This numbers are based on some reasonable assumptions and guesses based on partial skeletons. They are arguably more heavily armored than crocs today. They are not closely related to crocs, instead are a wonderful example of evolutionary convergence.
The label says #Pseudopalatus mccauleyi. Not knowing of this genus, I promptly looked up the paper that named it. It is named from a neat Arizona skull.
However, It appears Pseudopalatus is now a junior synonym of #Machaeroprosopus. Thus “False Palate” becomes “Sword Face” thanks to a tortured genus nomenclature history better left for another day…
I like the name Pseudopalatus, I always struggle saying Mack-air-oh-pro-soap-us (I hope that is correct). The only animal that comes to mind ending in -prosopus is #Syntomiprosopus “short face,” also from Arizona. That paper has some really neat graphics in it!
I have an ICZN species question. The etymology says, “This species in [sic] named after John D. McCauley and Mrs. Molly McCauley McLean...” AFAIK, when one names something after multiple people with the same last name it gets an -orum, like Diplodocus hallorum, which was originally named halli, but twas stated it was named after the Hall family, so twas later changed to a plural ending. Is it because Molly’s name ends in McLean (the paper didn’t show a hyphen but but was there?) that the name retains the singular “i” at the end? They are co-owners of the property, but are they married or siblings? It is an interesting scenario ending-wise, what does the ICZN do in hyphenated last name scenarios?
#FossilFriday
#FossilCrates