Article: Kimmeridgian metriorhynchid crocodiles from England
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
39
Part:
2
Publication Date:
June
1996
Page(s):
497
–
514
Author(s):
Daniel R. Grange and Michael J. Benton
Abstract
Remains of metriorhynchid crocodilians are rare in the British Kimmeridgian. A new partial metriorhynchid skull, recently discovered at Westbury, Wiltshire is provisionally assigned to Metriorhynchus superciliosus, a common narrow-skulled species previously described from the Oxford Clay (Callovian) sequences of Peterborough. It is covered with encrustations on both dorsal and ventral surfaces, indicating a long period of exposure on the sea floor, in relatively oxic conditions, before burial. There is evidence for both predator damage and a phase of post-depositional deformation.