Metriorhynchus, VON MEYER, 1830

Young, Mark T., Brusatte, Stephen L., Ruta, Marcello & Andrade, Marco Brandalise De, 2010, The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (mesoeucrocodylia, thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometric morphometrics, analysis of disparity, and biomechanics, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 158 (4), pp. 801-859 : 846-847

METRIORHYNCHUS VON MEYER, 1830

Metriorynchus Pictet, 1845 [sic] Type species: Metriorhynchus geoffroyii von Meyer, 1832 .

Valid species: Metriorhynchus geoffroyii von Meyer, 1832 ; Metriorhynchus hastifer (Eudes- Deslongchamps, 1868) Eudes-Deslongchamps, 1869; Metriorhynchus superciliosus (Blainville, 1853) Eudes-Deslongchamps, 1869 .

Potentially valid species: Metriorhynchus littoreus Sauvage, 1874 .

Etymology: ‘Moderate snout’. Metrio - is Greek for medium/moderate, whereas - rhynchus is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek - rhynchos, which means ‘snout’.

Geological range: Lower Callovian–upper Kimmeridgian.

Geographical range: European endemic ( England, France, Germany, and Switzerland).

Emended diagnosis: Metriorhynchid thalattosuchian with over 20 teeth per maxilla, and more than 20 teeth per dentary; variable ornamentation on the cranial bones, but lacking conspicuous ornamentation on the rostrum; the antorbital fossa is elongate, narrow, and oriented obliquely, and is enclosed by the lacrimal, maxilla, and jugal; the antorbital pseudofenestra is enclosed by the lacrimal, nasal, and maxilla; the internal nares opens out posteriorly into the buccal cavity, with the palatines creating a V-shape with its apex directed anteriorly; the maxilla–palatine suture forms an M-shape orientated posteriorly; the squamosal contributes at least 50% to the supratemporal arch; the length of the cervical centrum is shorter than its height; the tibia is roughly one third of the length of the femur; the atlas hypocentrum is subequal in length to the odontoid process length; the humerus is subequal in length to the scapula.