Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature 56

A ziphodont crocodile from the late Pleistocene King Creek catchment, Darling Downs, Queensland

Citation

Sobbe, I.H., Price, G.J. & Knezour, R.A. 2013. A ziphodont crocodile from the late Pleistocene King Creek catchment, Darling Downs, Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature 56(2): 601-606. Brisbane. ISSN 0079-8835. https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2204-1478.56.2.2013-14

Published online

30 June 2013

Peer reviewed

Yes

DOI

https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2204-1478.56.2.2013-14

Keywords

Ziphodont, Crocodile, Quinkana, King Creek, Darling Downs, Pleistocene

Abstract 

A well preserved reptilian tooth recovered from late Pleistocene fluviatile sediments along King Creek on the Darling Downs, south eastern Queensland, displays a suite of characters including lateral compression and curvature, lenticular cross section, length/width ratio >1.3, slight anterior/posterior recurve and distinct, strongly serrate carinae, that enable it to be attributed to a ziphodont crocodile (Quinkana sp.). It is the first record of a ziphodont in the King Creek ecosystem and only the second for the eastern Darling Downs in over 150 years of fossil collecting. This tooth as well as previously documented fossils from Tea Tree Cave (N. Qld) and Texas Caves (S. Qld) provides the youngest records of ziphodont crocodiles globally.