The biochronology and palaeobiogeography of Baru (Crocodilia: Mekosuchinae) based on new specimens from the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia

  Museum of Central Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2909v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Biodiversity, Biogeography, Paleontology, Taxonomy, Zoology
Keywords
biochronology, palaeobiogeography, Baru, Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Oligocene, Miocene, Mekosuchinae, Crocodylia
Copyright
© 2017 Yates
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Yates AM. 2017. The biochronology and palaeobiogeography of Baru (Crocodilia: Mekosuchinae) based on new specimens from the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia. PeerJ Preprints 5:e2909v1

Abstract

New records of the Oligo-Miocene mekosuchine crocodilian, Baru, from Queensland and the Northern Territory are described. B. wickeni and B. darrowi are accepted as valid species in the genus and their diagnoses are revised. Both species are present in Queensland and the Northern Territory but are restricted in time, with B. wickeni known from the late Oligocene and B. darrowi from the middle Miocene. The broad geographic distributions and restricted time spans of these species indicate that this genus is useful for biochronology. The record of B. wickeni from the Pwerte Marnte Marnte Local Fauna in the Northern Territory establishes that the species inhabited the north-western margin of the Lake Eyre Basin drainage system. More southerly Oligo-Miocene sites in the Lake Eyre Basin contain only one crocodilian species, Australosuchus clarkae. The Pwerte Marnte Marnte occurrence of B. wickeni indicates that the separation of Baru and Australosuchus did not correspond with the boundaries of drainage basins and that palaeolatitude was a more likely segregating factor.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.