European Goniopholididae from the Early Albian Escucha Formation in Ariño (Teruel, Aragón, Spain)

Abstract

Although goniopholidids constitute the most abundant remains of the Lower Cretaceous record of the Iberian Peninsula crocodilians, few specimens have been found complete enough to provide precise taxonomic determinations. The palaeontological site of Mina Santa María in Ariño (Teruel, Early Albian Escucha Formation) has yielded several neosuchian monotaxic concentrations. The skulls discovered at the Ariño Mine show a character combination linking them to the latter European species. The Ariño skulls share apomorphies with Anteophthalmosuchus hooleyi, Goniopholis willetti (e.g., loss of the transverse frontal crest and of the prefrontal-lachrymal crest, supratemporal fossa larger than the orbit and supratemporal fenestra subequal, among other derived characters). The new taxa, Hulkepholis plotos gen. n., sp. n. and Anteophthalmosuchus escuchae sp. n., are herein erected, and they constitute the most recent record of their clade in Europe. These sympatric species lived in a coastal marsh system with barrier islands and lagoon