Sphagesauridae
Encyclopedia
Sphagesauridae is a Gondwana
n family of mesoeucrocodylia
ns that lived during the Late Cretaceous
. It was a clade
of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved very mammal-like teeth and jaws. Both Sphagesaurus
and Adamantinasuchus
are known from the Turonian
to Santonian
of Brazil
.
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
n family of mesoeucrocodylia
Mesoeucrocodylia
Mesoeucrocodylia is the name of the clade that includes Eusuchia and the paraphyletic group Mesosuchia. The group appeared during the Early Jurassic, and continues to the present day....
ns that lived during the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
. It was a clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved very mammal-like teeth and jaws. Both Sphagesaurus
Sphagesaurus
Sphagesaurus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil.-Species and discovery:The type species S. huenei, was discovered in 1950 by Price, with the both the genus and species named from two isolated teeth. More recently a nearly complete skull of S...
and Adamantinasuchus
Adamantinasuchus
Adamantinasuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil.-Phylogeny:Below is a cladogram modified from O’Connor et al., 2010:...
are known from the Turonian
Turonian
The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 93.5 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.3 ± 1 Ma...
to Santonian
Santonian
The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 85.8 ± 0.7 mya and 83.5 ± 0.7 mya...
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.