Baru

Baru is an extinct genus of Australian mekosuchine crocodilian. It was semi-aquatic, around 4 m (13 ft) in length. Being semi-aquatic its habitat was around fresh pools of water in wet forests, ambushing their prey, much like modern species. The word Baru is Aboriginal and means "crocodile's ancestor".[3]

For other uses, see Baru (disambiguation).

Baru
Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Middle Miocene,
Replica skull, Baru sp. from Alcoota fossil site
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Clade: †Mekosuchinae
Genus: †Baru
Willis et al., 1990
Species
  • †Baru darrowi Wilis et al., 1990 (type species)
  • †Baru huberi Willis, 1997[2]
  • †Baru wickeni Willis, 1997[2]

Fossils have been found in Australia at Riversleigh in north-western Queensland and Alcoota in the Northern Territory.

Species

There are currently three valid species within the genus Baru. The type species B. darrowi is known from the Middle Miocene of the Northern Territory and is the largest reaching size of 4–5 m in length. It is named after English actor Paul Darrow.[4] Two older species, B. huberi and B. wickeni are known from the Late Oligocene Etadunna Formation of Queensland.[2]

In 2009, a Baru skull had been found at the Alcoota fossil site about 200km (125 miles) from Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. It was thought to belong to a known reptile of the Baru genus, but that has been updated with new study which claims this is a new species, which is expected to be named in 2022.[5]

Phylogeny

A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data established the inter-relationships within Crocodylia.[6] The cladogram below shows the placement of Baru within Mekosuchinae:[6]

Crocodylia

Alligatoroidea

Prodiplocynodon†

Asiatosuchus†

"Crocodylus" affinis†

"Crocodylus" depressifrons†

"Crocodylus" acer†

Brachyuranochampsa†

Mekosuchinae

Australosuchus†

Kambara taraina†

Kambara implexidens†

Kambara murgonensis†

Kalthifrons†

‘Pallimnarchus’†

Baru wickeni†

Baru darrowi†

Baru Alcoota†

Bullock Creek taxon†

Baru huberi†

Volia†

Mekosuchus†

Trilophosuchus†

Quinkana†

Longirostres
Crocodyloidea

"Crocodylus" megarhinus†

Crocodylidae

Gavialoidea

extinct basal Gavialoids†

Gavialidae

Gavialis

Tomistoma

References
  1. Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
  2. P. M. A. Willis. 1997. New crocodilians from the late Oligocene White Hunter Site, Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41(2):423-438
  3. P. Willis, P. Murray, and D. Megirian. 1990. Baru darrowi gen. et sp. nov., a large, broad-snouted crocodyline (Eusuchia: Crocodylidae) from mid-Tertiary freshwater limestones in Northern Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 29(2):521-540
  4. "Baru darrowi - Australian Museum". australianmuseum.net.au. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  5. "Australia crocodile: Skull identified as part of new extinct species". BBC News. 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  6. Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071. PMC 6030529. PMID 30051855.
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