Sarcosuchus, DE BROIN & TAQUET, 1966

Souza, Rafael G., Figueiredo, Rodrigo G., Azevedo, Sérgio A. K., Riff, Douglas & Kellner, Alexander W. A., 2020, Systematic revision of Sarcosuchus hartti (Crocodyliformes) from the Recôncavo Basin (Early Cretaceous) of Bahia, north-eastern Brazil, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 188, pp. 552-578 : 556

SARCOSUCHUS DE BROIN & TAQUET, 1966

Type species: Sarcosuchus imperator de Broin & Taquet, 1966

Emended diagnosis for the genus: Sarcosuchus is diagnosed by the following combination of characters: large-sized crocodyliforms with longirostrine snout; mandibles with straight margins in lateral view; flared anterior tip of mandibular symphysis; teeth 1–4 at the anteriormost region of the symphysis; enamel of mid-posterior teeth with many basi-apical low ridges, feeble and set close to each other, poorly anastomosed, with anastomosis stronger apically; premaxillary alveoli are transversally aligned; highly procumbent dentary teeth 1 and 2; confluent dentary alveoli 1 and 2; dentary teeth 3 medial relative to dentary teeth 4; dentary teeth 5 occluding at the premaxilla–maxilla contact. Also, the synapomorphies from the phylogenetic analysis are: the posterior dentition of maxillary and dentary present a weakdeveloped ridges on the enamel surface (Char. 268: 1 -> 0); the maxilla–dentary anterior dentition has bulbous crown shape (Char. 270: 0 -> 1); the dentary alveoli have a transitional morphology from circular to oval (Char. 272: 0 -> 1); the dentary alveoli 1 and 2 are close to each other (Char. 276: 0 -> 1); and the third dentary alveolus is medial in relation to the fourth (Char. 279: 2 -> 0).

Comments: In the original diagnosis of the genus, de Broin & Taquet (1966: 2328) based it on some general cranial features that today we known to be synapomorphies of more general groups or homoplastic, such as the relation between the orbits and supratemporal fenestrae and the participation of the frontal on the supratemporal fenestrae. Later, Buffetaut & Taquet (1977) provided some potential mandibular features to define Sarcosuchus , such as the lateral expansion of the anterior end of the mandible and a general teeth ornamentation description (‘fine sinuous wrinkles’), but still they did not provide a revision or expansion of the diagnosis. However, both features are known to be shared with other crocodyliform genera such as Chalawan and Elosuchus . The most recent work on Sarcosuchus was made by Sereno et al. (2001), but no diagnosis was provided for the genus.