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A Middle Jurassic ‘sphenosuchian’ from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull

Nature volume 430, pages 1021–1024 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The skull of living crocodylians is highly solidified and the jaw closing muscles are enlarged1, allowing for prey capture by prolonged crushing between the jaws. Living species are all semi-aquatic, with sprawling limbs and a broad body that moves mainly from side-to-side2; however, fossils indicate that they evolved from terrestrial forms. The most cursorial of these fossils3,4,5,6 are small, gracile forms often grouped together as the Sphenosuchia, with fully erect, slender limbs; their relationships, however, are poorly understood5,7,8,9,10. A new crocodylomorph from deposits in northwestern China of the poorly known Middle Jurassic epoch possesses a skull with several adaptations typical of living crocodylians. Postcranially it is similar to sphenosuchians but with even greater adaptations for cursoriality in the forelimb. Here we show, through phylogenetic analysis, that it is the closest relative of the large group Crocodyliformes, including living crocodylians. Thus, important features of the modern crocodylian skull evolved during a phase when the postcranial skeleton was evolving towards greater cursoriality, rather than towards their current semi-aquatic habitus.

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Figure 1: Results of a maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis.
Figure 2: Junggarsuchus sloani holotype skull.
Figure 3: Postcranial skeleton of Junggarsuchus sloani.

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Acknowledgements

Field work was supported by the National Geographic Society, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Jurassic Foundation, the Hilmar Sallee bequest, George Washington University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Study of the specimen was supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences. We thank D. Ma and W. Chen of the Changji Autonomous Prefecture and M. Zhu and X. Zhao of the IVPP for facilitating our work.

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Author notes

  1. Xing Xu

    Present address: Department of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, 10024, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    James M. Clark

  2. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xiwai Street, Beijing, 100044, China

    Xing Xu & Yuan Wang

  3. Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, 11794, USA

    Catherine A. Forster

Authors
  1. James M. Clark
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  2. Xing Xu
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  3. Catherine A. Forster
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  4. Yuan Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James M. Clark.

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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Containins the characters used in the phylogenetic analysis of Junggarsuchus and their distributions among 14 taxa of crocodylomorphs. (DOC 31 kb)

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Clark, J., Xu, X., Forster, C. et al. A Middle Jurassic ‘sphenosuchian’ from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull. Nature 430, 1021–1024 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02802

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