A new species of <i>Maomingosuchus</i> from the Eocene of the Na Duong Basin (northern Vietnam) sheds new light on the phylogenetic relationship of tomistomine crocodylians and their dispersal from Europe to Asia

<i>Maomingosuchus acutirostris</i> sp. nov. is a new tomistomine crocodile from the middle–upper Eocene deposits (late Bartonian–Priabonian age, 39–35 Ma) of the Na Duong Basin in northern Vietnam. <i>M. acutirostris</i> can be differentiated from the type species <i>Maomingosuchus petrolicus</i> by having an acute anterior tip of the premaxilla. Both species differ from another <i>Maomingosuchus</i> from Krabi (Thailand) by differences in the surangular–dentary suture and maxillary alveoli. According to our phylogenetic results, <i>M. acutirostris</i> seems to be the sister species to the group <i>M. petrolicus</i> + Krabi-<i>Maomingosuchus</i>. The close relationship between those three tomistomines is supported in the present phylogenetic analysis by three synapomorphies. In our phylogenetic analysis, <i>Maomingosuchus</i> was retrieved in a basal position forming the sister group to <i>Paratomistoma</i> + <i>Gavialosuchus</i> + <i>Melitosaurus</i> + <i>Tomistoma</i>, including the extant <i>Tomistoma schlegelii</i>. This phylogeny indicates three different dispersal events of Tomistominae from Europe towards eastern Asia: 1) for the stem lineage of <i>Maomingosuchus</i>, no later than the late Eocene; 2) for the stem lineage of <i>Penghusuchus pani</i> + <i>Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis</i>, no later than the early–middle Miocene; and (3) for the stem lineage of <i>T. schlegelii</i>, during the Neogene. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:19B27C1E-0A3F-4425-AA8C-F904277DF327