Paludirex

Paludirex (meaning "swamp king") is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodylians from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Australia. Remains of this animal have been found in the Riversleigh lagerstätte of northwestern Queensland. It was a medium-sized crocodile, estimated to grow up to 4 metres in length.[1][2] It had large, conical teeth with serrations and an extremely broad snout, features that probably allowed it to specialise in ambushing prey in shallow water.[3]

Paludirex
Temporal range: Pliocene-Pleistocene, 5.332–0.012 Ma
Paludirex vincenti
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
Subfamily: †Mekosuchinae
Genus: †Paludirex
Ristevski et al., 2020
Type species
†Paludirex vincenti
Ristevski et al., 2020
Other species
  • †P. gracilis (Willis & Molnar, 1997; formerly Pallimnarchus)
Synonyms
  • Crocodylus pallimnarchus Sill, 1968 (in part)
  • Pallimnarchus pollens De Vis, 1886 (in part)

Two species are known: the type species Paludirex vincenti, named by Jorgo Ristevski and colleagues in 2020, and P. gracilis, originally named by Paul Willis and Ralph Molnar in 1997 and transferred to the genus by Ristevski and colleagues. Both originally belonged to the genus Pallimnarchus (meaning "ruler of all the swamps"), named by Charles Walter De Vis in 1886 based on fragmentary material mineralised by apatite belonging to multiple species.[4] While part of this material was subsequently selected as the lectotype, much of it has been lost, and Ristevski and colleagues considered it to lack distinguishing features. They declared Pallimnarchus and its type species Pallimnarchus pollens dubious names; Paludirex vincenti is based on a more complete skull measuring 65 centimetres (26 in) long, "Geoff Vincent’s specimen", which was formerly assigned to P. pollens. The species is named for Geoff Vincent, who made the original discovery of the specimen in Chinchilla, Queensland.[1][5]

References
  1. Ristevski, J.; Yates, A.M.; Price, G.J.; Molnar, R.E.; Weisbecker, V.; Salisbury, S.W. (2020). "Australia's prehistoric 'swamp king': revision of the Plio-Pleistocene crocodylian genus Pallimnarchus de Vis, 1886". PeerJ. 8: e10466. doi:10.7717/peerj.10466.
  2. Molnar, R.E. (2004). Dragons in the dust: the paleobiology of the giant monitor lizard Megalania. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 172. ISBN 0-253-34374-7.
  3. Willis, P.M.A.; Molnar, R.E. (1997). "A Review of the Plio-Pleistocene crocodilian genus Pallimnarchus". Proceedings and Journal of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 117: 223–242.
  4. De Vis, C.W. (1886). "On remains of an extinct saurian". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. 2: 181–191.
  5. "Crikey! Massive prehistoric croc emerges from South East Queensland". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2021-01-09.


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