Isisfordia

Isisfordia Temporal range: Early-Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
(unranked):	Eusuchia
Genus:	Isisfordia Salisbury et al., 2006
Species
I. duncani Salisbury et al., 2006 (type)

Isisfordia (named after the discoverer; former Deputy Mayor of Isisford, Ian Duncan) (holotype QM F36211) is an extinct genus of crocodilian that lived during the Middle Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian). Its fossils were discovered in the Winton Formation in Isisford, Queensland, Australia in the mid 1990s. Most of the crododilian was discovered, with the exception of the front portion of the skull. On a later expedition to the location, paleontologists discovered a complete skull which differed from the original specimen in size only.

Relation to modern day crocodilians

The discovery of the fossilized remains allowed paleontologists to determine that crocodilians first evolved 30 million years earlier than previously thought, during the Cretaceous period on the supercontinent Gondwana. Analysis of the remains concluded that the vertebrate fit together as they do in modern crocodilians, via loose ball-and-socket joints, as well as a secondary palate, unique in crocodilians which allows them to let air pass into the lungs without entering the inside of the mouth.