Gunggamarandu

Gunggamarandu Paleoartwork by Eleanor Pease

Gunggamarandu maunala is an extinct genus and species of crocodylimorph, derives from the Pliocene or Pleistocene of south-eastern Queensland, Australia marking the southern-most global record for Tomistominae. It related to False Gharials.

Discovery and naming

Gunggamarandu maunala is known from a large, incomplete cranium that possesses a unique combination of features that distinguishes it from other crocodylians. It was discovered in the 1870s, probably around 1875 and was ascessioned into the collection of the Queensland Museum on January 8, 1914.

Gunggamarandu maunala skull Image by Jorgo Ristevski

Phylogenetic analyses place Gunggamarandu in a basal position within Tomistominae, specifically as a sister taxon to Dollosuchoides from the Eocene of Europe. These results hint at a potential ghost lineage between European and Australian tomistomines going back more than 50 million years. The cranial proportions of the Gunggamarandu maunala holotype specimen indicate it is the largest crocodyliform yet discovered from Australia. The newly named species, known from a partial skull that was unearthed in Queensland’s Darling Downs region, belongs to a group called the tomistomines. Before this, tomistomines had never been found in Australia.

Gunggamarandu names mean: “ hole-headed river boss ”. It is the biggest extinct croc yet found in Australia, and an important addition to the jigsaw of crocodylian evolution.

Paleobiology

The Crocodylimorph was a Large Carnivorous animal. Similiar to many false gharials, it was a generalistic carnivore.