In Depth
First named in 2006, Razanandrongobe has largely been a mystery for researchers as the genus was only known from partial upper jaw bones. This made details about what kind of animal Razanandrongobe was very difficult to establish other than it was from some large kind of archosaur. However, new remains discovered and described in 2014 have managed to classify Razanandrongobe a little better and now the genus is regarded as a mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorph. Further study in 2017 (Dal Sasso et al) led to upper size estimates of seven meters long for the holotype creature, though these are still based upon comparison of the original partial fossils to other mesocrocodylians genera.
Further Reading
- A new large predatory archosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Madagascar. - Atti della Societ� Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 147(1):19-51. - S. Maganuco, C. Dal Sasso & G. Pasini - 2006. – New Cranial Remains of the Enigmatic Archosaur Razanandrongobe sakalavae from the Middle Jurassic of madagascar clarify its phylogenetic relationships. - Conference: 74th SVP Meeting, At Berlin, Volume: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2014, 115-116. - Cristiano Dal Sasso, Simone Maganuco & Guillaume Fleury - 2014. – Razanandrongobe sakalavae, a gigantic mesoeucrocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar, is the oldest known notosuchian. – PeerJ. 5: e3481. – C. Dal Sasso, G. Pasini, G. Fleury & S. Maganuco – 2017.
