A revised Eurogondwana model: Late Cretaceous notosuchian crocodyliforms and other vertebrate taxa suggest the retention of episodic faunal links between Europe and Gondwana during most of the Cretaceous

Abstract

We describe new remains of the enigmatic Late Cretaceous crocodyliform Doratodon carcharidens coming from the Santonian Csehbánya Formation of Hungary. The material includes isolated upper and lower jaw elements and teeth that represent the earliest occurrence of this genus. Previous reports of Doratodon restricted the range of this taxon to the Campanian–Maastrichtian of the areas that are now Romania, Austria and Spain. Using data from both the new remains and the type series from the lower Campanian of Austria, our phylogenetic analysis finds D. carcharidens deeply nested within Gondwanan notosuchians as part of the predominantly South American clade Sebecosuchia. The suggested affinity of D. carcharidens is generally in agreement with previous cladistic assessments and confirms the presence of Gondwanan faunal elements in the Late Cretaceous western Tethyean archipelago (the region that is now southern Europe). Together with published reports on Gondwanan tetrapod immigrants from the Barremian, Albian, Cenomanian and Santonian of Europe this record is not compatible with a recently proposed paleobiogeographical model predicting a post-Hauterivian separation of Europe from Africa and subsequent biogeographical reconnection in the Campanian lasting till the Eocene. Instead, the European fossil record suggests that episodic faunal and geographical links were retained with Gondwana during most of the Cretaceous.