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Float or sink: modelling the taphonomic pathway of marine crocodiles (Mesoeucrocodylia, Thalattosuchia) during the death–burial interval

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Abstract

A taphonomic model is erected for a dataset of 19 Steneosaurus (Mesoeucrocodylia; Thalattosuchia) from the Toarcian Posidonienschiefer Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Germany. These were deposited in a quiet-water, marine, basin. Their taphonomy is compared with that of an additional seven thalattosuchians from other Jurassic localities (Peterborough and Yorkshire, UK; Nusplingen, Germany). The skeletal taphonomy of the specimens is assessed in terms of the articulation and completeness of nine skeletal units. Steneosaurus from the Posidonienschiefer Formation exhibit variable levels of articulation in the nine units. Completeness also varies but the head, neck and dorsal units are complete in all specimens. Carcasses reached the sediment–water interface shortly after death. Loss of fidelity occurred primarily as individuals lay on the sediment, and disarticulated elements tended to remain in the vicinity of the carcass. Those elements absent from specimens are the smaller, more distal, bones of the limbs and tail; these were removed preferentially by weak bottom currents. Smaller specimens are consistently less complete. Specimens from other localities broadly follow the same taphonomic pathway, suggesting a consistent pattern for the skeletal taphonomy of the carcasses of marine crocodiles. Loss of completeness in some specimens is more exacerbated, the result of stronger current activity at the sediment–water interface.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Michael Maisch (Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen), Dr. David Eberth (Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, AB), as well as the guest editors Dr. Michael Wuttke (Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz, Mainz) and Achim Reisdorf (University Basel) for their reviews of the manuscript. We also thank Dr. Rainer Schoch (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart), Philipe Havlik (Geologisches Institut für Palaetologisches, Tübingen) and Sandra Chapman (Natural History Museum, London, UK) for access to specimens. Thanks go to Gordon Walkden (University of Aberdeen) for providing details of the Yorkshire Steneosaurus specimen. The project was funded by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Susan R. Beardmore, Patrick J. Orr & Tom Manzocchi

  2. Paläontologisches Institut und Museum der Universität, Zürich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006, Zürich, Switzerland

    Heinz Furrer

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  1. Susan R. Beardmore
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  2. Patrick J. Orr
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  3. Tom Manzocchi
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  4. Heinz Furrer
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Correspondence to Susan R. Beardmore.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue "Taphonomic processes in terrestrial and marine environments"

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Beardmore, S.R., Orr, P.J., Manzocchi, T. et al. Float or sink: modelling the taphonomic pathway of marine crocodiles (Mesoeucrocodylia, Thalattosuchia) during the death–burial interval. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 92, 83–98 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-011-0066-0

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