First European evidence for transcontinental dispersal of Crocodylus (late Neogene of southern Italy)

Abstract

It is generally assumed that the Neogene crocodylian fauna of Europe has been represented only by brevirostrine alligatoroid Diplocynodon and longirostrine false gharials (Gavialosuchus and/or Tomistoma), which became extinct prior to 6 Mya. Although several lines of evidence suggest that Crocodylus originated in Africa during the Miocene and then promptly dispersed to other continents, the occurrence of this genus in Europe has never been rigorously proven and the traditional palaeontological approach failed to identify a monophyletic group of fossil Crocodylus (simply leading to a proliferation of extinct taxa). The new remains reported here, from an endemic insular fauna from southern Italy, Late Messinian to earliest Pliocene in age (5-6 million years old), represent the youngest European crocodylian, and allow, for the first time in a phylogenetic context, an unambiguous demonstration that Crocodylus dispersed into Europe, possibly during the Tortonian. If the peculiar morphology of the medial maxillary edge is interpreted as evidence for a medial dorsal boss, the southern Italian Crocodylus could be related to C. checchiai from the late Neogene of Libya. The presence of this African immigrant in Europe confirms the role of climate change for faunal dispersal and island colonization. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London.