Mahajangasuchidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

notosuchia Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosu ...

crocodyliform Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only pseudo ...

s. It currently contains two genera, '' Mahajangasuchus'' and '' Kaprosuchus'', both of which lived during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

in Gondwana. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing ''Mahajangasuchus insignis'' but not ''

Notosuchus terrestris ''Notosuchus'' (; 'southern crocodile') is an extinct genus of South American notosuchian crocodylomorph. It was terrestrial, living approximately 85 million years ago in the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Description ''Notosuchus'' wa ...

'', '' Simosuchus clarki'', '' Araripesuchus gomesii'', ''

Baurusuchus pachecoi ''Baurusuchus'' is an extinct member of the ancestral crocodilian lineage, which lived in Brazil from 90 to 83.5 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period. Technically, it is a genus of baurusuchid mesoeucrocodylian. It was a terrest ...

'', '' Peirosaurus torminni'', '' Goniopholis crassidens'', '' Pholidosaurus schaumbergensis'', or ''

Crocodylus niloticus ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct spe ...

''. Phylogenetically, Mahajangasuchidae is placed just outside pholidosaurids and more derived

neosuchia Neosuchia is a clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all crocodylomorphs more closely related to ''Crocodylus niloticu ...

ns. Defining characters of the family include fused

nasals In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majorit ...

, a jaw articulation below the posterior

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. T ...

ry tooth row, a deep mandibular symphysis that is oriented anterodorsally, and the formation of a hornlike posterodorsal process from the

squamosal The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones form the cheek series of the skull. The bone forms an ancestral co ...

and parietal (which is much more pronounced in ''Kaprosuchus'').

Phylogeny

Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

showing the phylogenetic relationship of Mahajangasuchidae within Neosuchia after Sereno and Larsson, 2009: In 2014, Mahajangasuchidae were grouped within

Notosuchia Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosu ...

: The cladogram following by Nicholl et al. 2021:

References

Terrestrial crocodylomorphs Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Prehistoric reptiles of Africa Notosuchians Cenomanian first appearances Maastrichtian extinctions Prehistoric reptile families {{paleo-archosaur-stub

Phylogeny

See also

References