Lukas VFN 🇪🇺Tracing multiple evolutionary trajectories in aquatic crocodiles https://phys.org/news/2023-11-multiple-evolutionary-trajectories-aquatic-crocodiles.html
Limited convergence in the postcranium of aquatic #Crocodylomorpha https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12678
"#thalattosuchians and #dyrosaurids differ greatly from each other in their adaptations and functional capacities, but they also diverge greatly from present-day #crocodiles"
Tracing multiple evolutionary trajectories in aquatic crocodiles
In the geological past, several groups of crocodiles evolved towards a morphology adapted to marine life. However, the extent of these adaptations and their evolutionary trajectories remained unknown. An exhaustive study of their morphology by a scientific team from the University of Liège has now shed light on the evolutionary mechanisms at work, thanks to three-dimensional reconstructions.