Eothoracosaurus

Eothoracosaurus is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorphs which existed during the Late Cretaceous period. Thoracosaurs in general were traditionally thought to be related to the modern false gharial, largely because the nasal bones contact the premaxillae, but phylogenetic work starting in the 1990s instead supported affinities within gavialoid exclusive of such forms. One recent phylogenetic study published by Lee & Yates (2018) suggests that thoracosaurs might instead be non-crocodilian eusuchian.[2] If the animal was a gavialoid, it was one of the earliest and most basal gavialoids known.

Eothoracosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Clade:	Neosuchia
Clade:	Eusuchia
Genus:	†Eothoracosaurus Brochu 2004
Type species
Eothoracosuchus mississippiensis Brochu 2004

Fossils are present from the Ripley Formation in Mississippi and date back to the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Some fragmentary material from the Coon Creek Formation of western Tennessee dating back to the late Campanian (slightly older than the specimens from Mississippi) has been referred to Eothoracosaurus as well. The Coon Creek Formation seems to have been deposited in a marine setting, with oceanic fauna such as the sharks Otodus and Squalicorax, the sea turtle Toxochelys, and mosasaurs including Plioplatecarpus and Globidens present from these strata.[3] This suggests that Eothoracosaurus may also have led a marine lifestyle. Certain aspects of the cranial morphology of known specimens, such as a long anterior frontal process and widely spaced supratemporal fenestrae, distinguish it from the closely related Thoracosaurus neocesariensis from the late Maastrichtian and early Paleocene of New Jersey.[4]