Description of new dyrosaurid specimens from the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene of New Jersey, United States, and comments on Hyposaurus systematics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dyrosauridae was a successful clade of marine crocodyliforms that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene biotic crises. The most important taxon from North America is Hyposaurus rogersii, a species first described in the mid-19th century based on fragmentary fossils. Several new specimens are described here, comprising material that once belonged to the Yale Peabody Museum (New Haven, USA) but obtained later by L.I. Price and housed in the paleontological collections of the former Divisão de Geologia e Mineralogia (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). The remains include postcranial bones and fragments of a lower jaw. The present work urges for the necessity of a revision about the validity of Hyposaurus rogersii based on the absence of diagnostic features observed in the holotype. The new specimens show new postcranial features that support the importance of the postcranial bones for dyrosaurid systematics.