Crocodyliform biogeography during the Cretaceous: evidence of Gondwanan vicariance from biogeographical analysis

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Abstract
Explanations of the distributions of terrestrial vertebrates during the Mesozoic are currently vigorously contested and debated in palaeobiogeography. Recent studies focusing on dinosaurs yield conflicting hypotheses. Dispersal, coupled with regional extinction or vicariance driven by continental break–up, have been cited as the main causal factors behind dinosaur distributions in the Mesozoic. To expand the scope of the debate and test for vicariance within another terrestrial group, I herein apply a cladistic biogeographical method to a large sample of Cretaceous crocodyliform taxa. A time–slicing methodology is employed and a refinement made to account for the divergence times of the analysed clades. The results provide statistically significant evidence that Gondwana fragmentation affected crocodyliform diversification during the Mid–Late Cretaceous. Detection of a vicariant pattern within crocodyliforms is important as it helps corroborate vicariance hypotheses in other fossil and extant groups as well as furthers the move towards more taxonomically diverse approaches to palaeobiogeographical research.