New remains of <i.Machimosaurus hugii</i> von Meyer, 1837 (Crocodilia, Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian of Germany

Abstract

The fourth complete skull of the marine crocodilian <i>Machimosaurus</i> von Meyer, 1837 is hereby described together with an associated complete mandible and disarticulated postcranial elements from the Kimmeridgian of Neuffen, Germany. Although the genus has been described fairly recently on the basis of two nearly complete skulls, their state of preservation did not allow a thorough examination of the entire skull anatomy. Here, we add new information with the description of nicely preserved cranial and mandibular elements of a single individual attributable to <i>Machimosaurus hugii</i> von Meyer, 1837. The diagnosis is updated for the genus and for the species <i>M. hugii</i> and challenges the validity of the second species <i>M. mosae</i> (Liénard, 1876). Moreover, previous assumption that <i>Steneosaurus obtusidens</i> Andrews, 1913 is a junior synonym of <i>Machimosaurus hugii</i> is not supported by our observations. Notably, <i>M. hugii</i> differs from <i>S. obtusidens</i> by a lower tooth count, the morphology of the dentition, the shape of the supratemporal fenestrae and the absence of an antorbital fenestra. Comparative anatomy and a phylogenetic analysis show that <i>Machimosaurus</i> is more closely related to the genus <i>Steneosaurus</i> than to <i>Teleosaurus cadomensis</i> (Lamouroux, 1820). <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.201300009" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.201300009</a>