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''Mekosuchus'' is a genus of extinct Australasian crocodiles within the subfamily Mekosuchinae. They are believed to have been made extinct by the arrival of man on the South Pacific islands where they lived.〔Cf. (The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database: Extinct Reptiles: ''Mekosuchus inexpectatus'' ), noting Anderson, Atholl, Sand, Christophe, Petchey, Fiona and Worthy, Trevor H. (2010). "Faunal Extinction and Human Habitation in New Caledonia: Initial Results and Implications of New Research at the Pindai Caves", ''Journal of Pacific Archaeology'' 1.1: 89-109; ''M. kalpokasi'', ''sp. nov.''(J.I. Mead, D.W. Steadman, ''et al.'', "New extinct Mekosuchine crocodile from Vanuatu, South Pacific", ''Copeia'', 2002.3: "the extinction of ''M. kalpokasi'' and other insular mekosuchines may have been anthropogenic"); .〕 The species of this genus were small in size, 2 m in maximum length, and terrestrial, making them the last surviving group of fully terrestrial crocodilians, leaving only semi-terrestrial species such as the Cuban crocodile and the dwarves ''Osteolaemus'' and ''Paleosuchus''.〔(Darren Naish, "Tetrapod Zoology" (''Scientific American'' blog): "Dissecting a crocodile", 2012 )〕 Fossils of related mekosuchines, such as ''Trilophosuchus'', have been found from Miocene Australia (the earliest known mekosuchine is the Eocene genus ''Kambara''), though the mekosuchines had gone extinct in Australia prior to the arrival of humans. ''Mekosuchus'' survived until the Holocene, and their sub-fossils have been found in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. == Species == There are currently four species of ''Mekosuchus'' recognised. The first discovered (and youngest) is the type species ''M. inexpectatus'' from the Holocene of New Caledonia which became extinct at some point in the last 4,000 years (with the arrival of man). The poor soils of New Caledonia restrict large ground-dwelling prey, so ''Mekosuchus'' had specialized back teeth for cracking mollusk shells. Another Holocene species is known, ''M. kalpokasi'' which lived on the island of Efate, Vanuatu approximately 3,000 years ago (again disappearing with the arrival of man). ''M. whitehunterensis'', the oldest known species, lived during the late Oligocene in Queensland. ''M. sanderi'' also lived in Queensland but later, during the Miocene. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mekosuchus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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