Tiny new Thikarisuchus enters the LRT with Araripesuchus and Alligatorellus
Allen et al 2025 described a small immature crocodiliform,
Thikarisuchus MOR 11969 (early Late Cretaceous, Montana) with three distinct tooth morphologies the authors nested close to Wannchampsus (a taxon not yet tested in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2338 taxa).
Figure 1. Thikarisuchus skull in several views compared to scale with Araripesuchus and Alligatorellus.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg?w=154″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg?w=527″ class=”size-full wp-image-94755″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Thikarisuchus skull in several views compared to scale with Araripesuchus and Alligatorellus.” width=”584″ height=”1134″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg?w=584&h=1134 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg?w=77&h=150 77w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg?w=154&h=300 154w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/thikarisuchus-xenodentes.skull588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Thikarisuchus skull in several views compared to scale with Araripesuchus and Alligatorellus.
Small crocs with short snouts
nest together in the LRT (subset Fig 2). These oxymorons appear to be due to neotony following phylogenetic miniaturization.
Note: Many years have passed since the LRT added a croc. Today’s addition helped clear up several overlooked data issues in nearby taxa. This is typical, as every taxon teaches something about every neighboring taxon, especially during the freshman naiveté phase of data collection.
Stanford professor Andrew Huberman says academics are terrified to acknowledge errors. That’s why new ideas = hypotheses are often discredited (without testing) or ignored, even at the highest levels. Let me know if you can provide a citation for a living paleontologist who has confessed in public to making an error.
Figure 2. Subset of the LRT focusing on the Crocodylomorpha with the addition of Thikarisuchus.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg?w=154″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg?w=526″ class=”size-full wp-image-94757″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Subset of the LRT focusing on the Crocodylomorpha with the addition of Thikarisuchus.” width=”584″ height=”1136″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg?w=584&h=1136 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg?w=77&h=150 77w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg?w=154&h=300 154w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crocodylomorpha2025lrt588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Subset of the LRT focusing on the Crocodylomorpha with the addition of Thikarisuchus.
According to Wikipedia – Thikarisuchus,
“In their phylogenetic analysis, Allen et al. (2025) recovered Thikarisuchus as a member of an unresolved clade also including Wannchampsus and an unnamed specimen nicknamed the ‘Glen Rose form’ (USNM 22039). The authors named this clade Wannchampsidae. This group is the sister taxon to Atoposauridae, which is in turn the sister to Paralligatoridae. The results are displayed in the cladogram below:”
References
Allen HJ, Wilberg EW, Turner AH and Varricchio DJ 2025. A new, diminutive, heterodont neosuchian from the Vaughn Member of the Blackleaf Formation (Cenomanian), southwest Montana, and implications for the paleoecology of heterodont neosuchians. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2542185. doi:10.1080/02724634.2025.2542185.
wiki/Thikarisuchus
wiki/Wannchampsus
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/tiny-new-thikarisuchus-enters-the-lrt-with-araripesuchus-and-alligatorellus/
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