Article: A short-snouted dryosaurid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Palaeocene of Morocco

This paper describes a new genus and species of dyrosaurid, Chenanisuchus lateroculi gen. et sp. nov. (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Thanetien (Late Palaeocene) of the Oulad Abdoun Basin, Morocco. This new taxon has a particularly short snout, as well as widely separated and laterally facing orbits. In the holotype, the mandible exhibits a retroarticular process that is strongly depressed posterior to the glenoid fossa, bringing the ventral margin of the medial wing of the articular to the same level as the ventral margin of the retroarticular process. This feature is shared with Congosaurus bequaerti, Dyrosaurus and isolated dyrosaurid material from Mali and Niger, but is absent in the putative closely related crocodyliforms, such as pholidosaurids and Terminonaris, and could be a dyrosaurid character.