In Depth A member of the Crocodyloidea which includes surviving modern species, Arenysuchus is still regarded as a more basal form due to the frontal skull bones contacting the fenestra (openings) on top of the skull. At the time of writing only a partial skull of Arenysuchus is known, but at just under twenty centimetres … Read more
In Depth Comahuesuchus is a notosuchian crocodile that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous period. The description of Anatosuchus in 2003 led to the idea that Anatosuchus and Comahuesuchus were close relatives, however a 2006 paper by Andrade, Bertini and Pinheiro came to the conclusion that they were not closely related. Instead a … Read more
In Depth Known form a small partial skull that was initially thought to belong to the genus Bernissartia, Koumpiodontosuchus was established as a distinct genus in 2015. Koumpiodontosuchus means ‘button toothed crocodile’, a reference to the small teeth seen in the skull. These show that as well as being small itself, Koumpiodontosuchus was a predator … Read more
In Depth Anthracosuchus is a genus of dryosaurid crocodile that lived in Colombia approximately sixty million years ago. Unusually for a dryosaurid crocodile, Anthracosuchus had a particularly broad and short blunt snout, very difference to the more slender snouts that are more commonly seen in related genera. A shorter and broader snout indicates that Anthracosuchus … Read more
In Depth Wargosuchus is a genus of baurusucid crocodile that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of description (and writing), Wargosuchus is only known from a single incomplete skull, mostly of the tooth bearing bones of the right hand side. Despite this lack of fossil remains, Wargosuchus is still notable … Read more
In Depth Originally named as species of Theriosuchus, Sabresuchus is a genus of crocodylomorph that lived in Europe during the Cretaceous. Further Reading – Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania. – Naturwissenschaften. 97 (9): 845–854. – Martin Jeremy, Rabi M�rton & Csiki Zolt�n … Read more
In Depth Rukwasuchus is a genus of crocodile that lived in Tanzania during the Cretaceous. Rukwasuchus was named after Lake Rukwa, something the genus has in common with the titanosaur genus Rukwatitan. Further Reading - A new crocodyliform from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(3):576-596. - Jospeh J. … Read more
In Depth Further Reading Further reading - A Miocene hyperdiverse crocodylian community reveals peculiar trophic dynamics in proto-Amazonian mega-wetlands. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 282:20142490. - R. Salas-Gismondi, J. J. Flynn, P. Baby, J. V. Tejada-Lara, F. P. Wesselingh & P.-O. Antoine - 2015.
In Depth Tadzhikosuchus was a late Cretaceous era crocodile that lived in what would become Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Three species were once named for the genus but a 2000 review resulted in the observation that no differences between the available fossils could differentiate three separate species. Therefore the species T. neutralis and T. kizylkumensis are … Read more
In Depth Khoratosuchus is a genus of crocodile that lived in Thailand during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - Khoratosuchus jintasakuli gen. et sp. nov., an advanced neosuchian crocodyliform from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of NE Thailand. Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Ecosystems in SE Asia. - The Geological Society of London, Special Publication 315:175-187. - K. … Read more