Goniopholis

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Extinct genus of reptiles

title: "Goniopholis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["goniopholididae", "early-cretaceous-crocodylomorphs-of-europe", "prehistoric-reptiles-of-africa", "late-jurassic-crocodylomorphs-of-europe", "late-jurassic-crocodylomorphs-of-north-america", "taxa-named-by-richard-owen", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1841", "prehistoric-pseudosuchian-genera"] description: "Extinct genus of reptiles" topic_path: "general/goniopholididae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goniopholis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of reptiles ::

| fossil_range = Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous, | image = Swanage Crocodile Goniopholis kiplingi.jpg | image_caption = Holotype skull of the "Swanage Crocodile", G. kiplingi on display at the Dorset Museum. Berriasian age (earliest Cretaceous). | taxon = Goniopholis | authority = Owen, 1841 | type_species = Goniopholis crassidens | type_species_authority = Owen, 1841 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision =

  • G. baryglyphaeus Schwarz, 2002
  • G. crassidens Owen, 1841
  • G. kiplingi Andrade et al., 2011
  • G. simus Owen, 1878

Goniopholis (meaning "angled scale") is an extinct genus of goniopholidid crocodyliform that lived in Europe and North America during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Like other goniopholidids, it resembled living crocodilians, and probably had a similar ecology as semi-aquatic ambush predators.

Discovery and species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Goniopholis_crassidens.jpg" caption="''G. crassidens'' holotype BMNH 3798"] ::

The type species of the genus is G. crassidens which is known from the Berriasian of England, and the referable species G. simus from the Berriasian of NW Germany, might be conspecific. Other species that are referable to Goniopholis include G. kiplingi from the Berriasian of England, and G. baryglyphaeus from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Portugal making it the oldest known Goniopholis species. Based on skull length, total body length of G. kiplingi is estimated at 3.47 m.

Eggs attributed to Goniopholis were found in the Late Jurassic of Portugal.

A partial skeleton of an indeterminate species of Goniopholis has been recovered from the Berriasian aged Angeac-Charente bonebed of France.

Goniopholis have been inferred to have been ectothermic on the basis of bone histology and stable isotope analysis.

The taxon Macellodus brodei was named in 1854 by Sir Richard Owen for a partial maxilla and referred jaws, with Owen interpreting the material as that of a lizard. The maxilla was considered missing my Hoffstetter in 1967, who designated a neotype, though this neotype was then removed from Macellodus and referred to the lacertilian Becklesisaurus. Review by Richard Estes in 1983 rediscovered the type of Macellodus among crocodilian remains in the Natural History Museum, London, recognizing that it belonged to the premaxilla of a crocodilian. Estes considered that Macellodus should be a synyonym of Goniopholis, and G. brodei would have priority over G. simus, but instead of advocating for synonymy Estes found that G. brodei is undiagnostic.

Formerly assigned species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Goniopholis_stalking_Dryosaurus_mount.webp" caption="A skeletal mount of ''Goniopholis'' stalking a juvenile ''[[Dryosaurus]]''"] ::

Two species were referred to Goniopholis from Brazil. Goniopholis hartti from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil is in fact a member of the genus Sarcosuchus.

From North America, G. lucasii and G. kirtlandicus are currently placed in their own genera Amphicotylus and Denazinosuchus, respectively,

G. phuwiangensis is known from NE Thailand, but this species is fragmentary and was recently reassigned to Sunosuchus. Nannosuchus from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian stage) of England and Spain currently considered to be valid, was referred to as G. gracilidens by some authors.

Willett's / Hulke's, Hooley's and Dollo's goniopholidids represent several complete specimens previously classified as either G. simus or G. crassidens, Dollo's goniopholidid has also been assigned to Anteophthalmosuchus.

Koumpiodontosuchus aprosdokiti from England was initially identified as a juvenile Goniopholis.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Goniopholis_-Castilla-La_Mancha_Paleontological_Museum(Cuenca,_Spain).jpg" caption="Model of ''Goniopholis'' at the [[Castilla-La Mancha Paleontological Museum]]"] ::

Like other goniophoilids, Goniopholis bears a superficial resemblance to modern crocodilians. However, unlike modern crocodilians and like other goniopholidids, the dermal armour covering the back was composed of two rows of large rectangular scutes running parallel down each side of the midline, with a "peg and groove" mechanism articulating the sets of plates together, with the outer edge of the plates deflected downwards.

Ecology

Goniopholidids likely had a similar ecology to modern crocodilians as semi-aquatic ambush predators.

Classification

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Goniopholis_simus_skull.jpg" caption="''G. simus'' skull from Middle [[Purbeck Group"] ::

Below is a cladogram including several Goniopholis species:

|label1=Neosuchia |1={{clade |label1=Atoposauridae |1={{clade |1= Theriosuchus pusillus |2= Theriosuchus guimarotae }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Rugosuchus |2={{clade |1=Bernissartia |2=Eusuchia }} }} |2={{clade |1=Stolokrosuchus |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Tethysuchia |2=Thalattosuchia }} |label2=Goniopholididae |2={{clade |1= Calsoyasuchus valliceps |2={{clade |1={{clade |1="Goniopholis" phuwiangensis |2={{clade |1= Eutretauranosuchus delfi |2="Sunosuchus" junggarensis }} |3={{clade |1= Sunosuchus miaoi |2= Sunosuchus thailandicus }} }} |2={{clade |1= Siamosuchus phuphokensis |2={{clade |1= Amphicotylus lucasii |2={{clade |1= Denazinosuchus kirtlandicus |2= Nannosuchus gracilidens |3={{clade |1={{clade |1=Hulkepholis (Hulke's goniopholidid) |2={{clade |1=Anteophthalmosuchus (Hooley's goniopholidid) |2=Anteophthalmosuchus (Dollo's goniopholidid)}} }} |label2=Goniopholis |2={{clade |1=Goniopholis baryglyphaeus |2={{clade |1=Goniopholis kiplingi |2=Goniopholis simus }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

References

Sources

  • Owen, R. 1878. Monograph on The Fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations, Supplement no. VII. Crocodilia (Goniopholis, Pterosuchus, and Suchosaurus). Palaeontological Society Monograph, p. 1-15.

References

  1. (2011). "A new Berriasian species of ''Goniopholis'' (Mesoeucrocodylia, Neosuchia) from England, and a review of the genus". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  2. (2013). "European Goniopholididae from the Early Albian Escucha Formation in Ariño (Teruel, Aragón, España)". Spanish Journal of Palaeontology.
  3. Yoshida, Junki. (2021). "A new goniopholidid from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, USA: novel insight into aquatic adaptation toward modern crocodylians". Royal Society Open Science.
  4. Russo, J., Mateus O., Marzola M., & Balbino A. (2017). Two new ootaxa from the late Jurassic: The oldest record of crocodylomorph eggs, from the Lourinhã Formation, Portugal. PLOS ONE. 12, 1-23.
  5. Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.. [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03264773/document Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary]. Geodiversitas, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773f
  6. (2021). "Combined paleohistological and isotopic inferences of thermometabolism in extinct Neosuchia, using ''Goniopholis'' and ''Dyrosaurus'' (Pseudosuchia: Crocodylomorpha) as case studies". Cambridge University Press (for The Paleontological Society).
  7. Estes, R.. (1983). "Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie". Gustav Fischer Verlag.
  8. (2012). "Postcranial anatomy of ''Sebecus icaeorhinus'' (Crocodyliformes, Sebecidae) from the Eocene of Patagonia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
  9. (2013). "Osteology of a North American Goniopholidid (''Eutretauranosuchus delfsi'') and Palate Evolution in Neosuchia". American Museum Novitates.
  10. (2016). "Osteology and affinities of Dollo's goniopholidid (Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Early Cretaceous of Bernissart, Belgium". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
  11. Puértolas-Pascual, E. (2020-06-11). "A three-dimensional skeleton of Goniopholididae from the Late Jurassic of Portugal: implications for the Crocodylomorpha bracing system". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  12. (April 2018). "A new species of Anteophthalmosuchus (Crocodylomorpha, Goniopholididae) from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, and a review of the genus". Cretaceous Research.

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goniopholididaeearly-cretaceous-crocodylomorphs-of-europeprehistoric-reptiles-of-africalate-jurassic-crocodylomorphs-of-europelate-jurassic-crocodylomorphs-of-north-americataxa-named-by-richard-owenfossil-taxa-described-in-1841prehistoric-pseudosuchian-genera