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Size of Aegisuchus witmeri.

Posted by MBetancourt on 14 Aug 2014 at 23:09 GMT

Hi, I think that the estimated skull and total lengths of ROM 5453 presented here are much too large. I was making a simple skull diagram/reconstruction of it going by your figures and drawings of Stomatosuchus when I noticed that it ended up with an skull only 1m long, trying to reconcile that with your estimates I decided to check the equations you used, I failed at using the equations you provided so I decided to check your sources and remade them myself (with the exception of the one from Sereno and Larson, 2009) and the resulting estimates of skull length were between 62 and 90cm, which along with what's already preserved suggests snout lengths of 75% to 83% of skull length, the former value is closer to that of Gavialis so Sereno et al. (2001) equation for Gavialis is the one I’ll use along with the 62cm length. The result is a total length of ~3.9m.

The endocranial volume of ROM 54530 is also not incredibly large, George and Holliday (2013) mention a 518mm long C. niloticus skull with an endocranial volume over 33 cubic centimeters.

I’ll share the excel file I used: http://1drv.ms/YamOjY
And the skull diagram: http://1drv.ms/1t0rEd2


References:
Aguilera et al. (2006) A new giant Purussaurus (Crocodyliformes, Alligatoridae) from the Upper Miocene Urumaco Formation, Venezuela. Journal of Systematic Paleontology 4(3):221-232.
George and Holliday. (In Press) Trigeminal Nerve morphology in Alligator missisippiensis and its significance for Crocodyliform facial sensation and evolution. The anatomical record 00:000-000 (2013).
Sereno et al. (2001) The giant crocodyliform Sarcosuchus from the Cretaceous of Africa. Science 294, 1516.
Sereno and Larson (2009) Cretaceous crocodyliforms from the Sahara. ZooKeys 28: 1-143.

No competing interests declared.