Publication Date
4-14-1986
Series Number
197
Abstract
A nearly complete vertebral column and portions of an associated pelvis and hind limb from Sind Province, southern Pakistan, are described and identified as those of a marine crocodile belonging to the poorly known family, Dyrosauridae. The fossil is the most complete of its kind yet known from Asia and adds to our knowledge of the postcranial anatomy of the dyrosaurs. Its occurrence in the late Paleocene (Thanetian) Lakhra Formation places it among the earliest of Asian dyrosaurid crocodiles and strengthens the view that the Dyrosauridae spread from Africa to Asia along the shores of Tethys. The source rocks are of marine origin. Remains of dyrosaurid crocodiles are generally restricted to marine sediments of Africa, North America, and South America but have been only rarely found in marine rocks of Asia.