Talk:Mekosuchinae

[Description and Paleobiology?]

How about something on what separates them from extant crocodiles? KarlM 05:23, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Size and characteristics ?

What is known about their size range and their habitat ? --EvenGreenerFish (talk) 01:30, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Extinction and the arrival of crocodylus

The article mentions that this family of crocodiles became extinct in Australia after the arrival of crocodylus. Is this to implying that crocodylus had some role in its extinction ? And there is no timeline estimate for the family's extinction. --EvenGreenerFish (talk) 01:44, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

I will look, but the reason for an extiction of many, I would say most species in indeterminate. There are many reasons for an extiction, maybe the modern crocs did have an impact, maybe the mekosuchinae were long on the way to extinction before they arrived. Or another species of life had its impact, environment, habitat etc. I is too hard to know. Enlil Ninlil (talk) 02:40, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Drop Croc?

I can't find any mention of the nickname "drop croc" for Trilophosuchus outside this article. The whole idea of it being arboreal isn't widely accepted by croc experts (as far as I know, it was never even published in literature). The only mention I can find of "drop croc" is on various blogs, which I suspect got the name from this article. I can't find any published claim that Trilophosuchus dropped onto its prey, so I'm thinking that this idea was made up, too. Is this really a common nickname, or a case of OR by an imaginative editor? Smokeybjb (talk) 05:06, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

From what I can see, it's, sadly, become a common name from what people have picked up here. I would chalk it up more to sloppy researching rather than OR.--Mr Fink (talk) 05:20, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

It seems Mekosuchus was the only mekosuchine to ever be considered arboreal by an expert (see here). In any case, I removed the statement because I don't know how Trilophosuchus was dragged into this. Smokeybjb (talk) 22:07, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

So you're dropping the "Trilophosuchus as drop croc" schtick? In that case, should I redraw my reconstruction of Mekosuchus to reflect a more arboreal stance, or no?--Mr Fink (talk) 00:21, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

I don't think so. Arboreal behavior seems like a minority view among croc experts, and it's virtually unmentioned in the literature. It would be safer to keep the accepted ground posture, even though the thought of a tree-climbing crocodile sounds cool. Smokeybjb (talk) 03:06, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Should it be called "Mekosuchidae"?

All recent analyses find Mekosuchinae to be outside of all Crocodilian families so should it be called Mekosuchidae? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Magnatyrannus (talk • contribs) 01:41, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Nope. That would be called "original research". Not our place - leave it to the scientists. All the studies still call it Mekosuchinae regardless of its placement. Cougroyalty (talk) 04:41, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Just like the Saturnaliinae article template doesn't show Guaibasauridae, how come Saturnaliinae is ranked as a subfamily while Mekosuchinae is not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Magnatyrannus (talk • contribs) 14:15, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

The reasoning for this was already explained to you in the edit summary of the edit that reverted your change to Template:Taxonomy/Mekosuchinae. But in short, studies are finding that it may not belong to any family within Crocodylia. So I guess how can it be a subfamily without belonging to a family? But the scientists are not willing to change the name since it is well recognized. But also more generally, the traditional Linnean classification rankings and hierarchies are becoming much less important in modern cladistics. Cougroyalty (talk) 15:21, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

So does that mean Linnean classification is not valid? Magnatyrannus (talk) 23:10, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Because multiple studies find Mekosuchinae outside every crocodilian family, then Mekosuchinae would not be the valid name for it. Magnatyrannus (talk) 19:41, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

No. We do not get to change the names of groups. That would be original research. And all of this has already been explained... Cougroyalty (talk) 20:04, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

Has any study recovered Mekosuchidae instead of Mekosuchinae? Magnatyrannus (talk) 21:35, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

No, not that I am aware of. Cougroyalty (talk) 22:57, 23 December 2021 (UTC)