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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
DOI:
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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.
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