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Jaw musculature and jaw mechanics of Sebecus icaeorhinus Simpson, 1937 (Mesoeucrocodylia, Sebecosuchia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2013

Ralph E. Molnar
Ralph E. Molnar*
Affiliation:
Museum of Northern Arizona, 3101 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001-8348, USA University of California Museum of Paleontology, 1100 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720-4780, USA. E-mail: ralph.molnar@gmail.com
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Abstract

Sebecus icaeorhinus possessed a narrow, elevated snout and laterally compressed, serrate teeth, unlike modern crocodilians, but superficially similar to those of theropod dinosaurs. Lever arms of the mandibular adductors were generally relatively greater than those of Crocodylus niloticus. Some of the adductors and the depressor mandibulae were relatively larger than in Alligator mississippiensis. Thus Sebecus may have had a stronger bite than the modern forms examined. The form of the teeth suggests use in cutting. Some theropod dinosaurs are similar to sebecosuchians in the possession of relatively deep, narrow snouts and laterally-compressed, serrate teeth. However, the adductor structure was substantially different from that of Sebecus. The presence of muscle and tendon attachments in Sebecus suggests the adductor structure of mesoeucrocodylians is conservative and was established before divergence of the sebecosuchian and neosuchian lineages. No results presented here contradict the interpretation of sebecosuchians as land-dwelling predators.

Keywords

ArgentinaCasamayoranSarmiento Formationziphodont
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 103 , Issue 3-4: The Full Profession: A Celebration of the Life and Career of Wann Langston, Jr., Quintessential Vertebrate Palaeontologist , September 2012 , pp. 501 - 519
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Copyright © The Royal Society of Edinburgh 2013 

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