For this let me introduce 𝑇𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑦𝑎𝑒, a newly described thalattosuchian crocodylomorph, from the Pliensbachian of the UK!

Appreciate the amazing paleoart by and follow the thread 👇🧵

Paper: https://t.co/0O1mo9mGD7

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Mosasaurines aren’t the only marine reptiles to have developed this feature too- highly marine-adapted thalattosuchians had them, as well as polycotylid plesiosaues

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Way over word count so OUT comes text on difference between & crocodylians and how it relates to position of thalattosuchians. So stupid & complicated but I have to keep explaining it because no-one else ever does [famous Pyrakowski art attached]

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It has been an amazing week for thalattosuchian research!!!🐊Two papers on their sensory systems got published by the Masters students and Thomas Cowgill. Very happy to have been part of their projects.

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During the Jurassic, ca.180 million years ago, some crocs called thalattosuchians moved from land to water, becoming open-ocean swimmers. Just like whales did 100+ million years later.

Our team has a new study out today in , detailing this evolutionary transition.

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My first paper in 2020 was released today. and I describe the first late Tithonian thalattosuchian from Europe and discuss the teleosauroid diversity
50 free pdfs: https://t.co/0VL0yZOEym

Art: Dmitry Bogdanov (Wikipedia)

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Work in progress with and . This is a figure for a manuscript on historical teleosaurid specimens from Germany and England which is about ready for submission.

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Also for Here is Rhacheosaurus gracilis, one of the four species of thalattosuchian crocodyliform from the Solnhofen Formation, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Germany. Notice the cloudy eye is indicating the nictitating membrane

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Endocranial anatomy of Pelagosaurus (Crocodyliformes, Thalattosuchia) https://t.co/DV8P9ofnrX vía

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