AN ATOPOSAURID NEOSUCHIAN (ARCHOSAURIA, CROCODYLIFORMES) FROM THE LOWER CRETACEOUS OF INNER-MONGOLIA (PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA)

Cranial and postcranial remains from the Laolonghuoze locality in the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia (China), represent a previously unrecorded taxon of crocodyliform archosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Luohandon g Formation (Zhidan Group). Several cranial features indicate that thi s form is referable to the Atoposauridae, which were previously defini tely known only from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of Europe . Certain derived characters further indicate that the Ordos material is closely related to, if not actually referable to, Theriosuchus. The Ordos atoposaurid differs from the species of Theriosuchus in only a few features. In view of its fragmentary nature, the new material is i dentified as cf. Theriosuchus sp. at present.