Name:
Cerrejonisuchus
(Cerrej�n crocodile).
Phonetic: Car-re-hon-soo-kus.
Named By: A. K. Hastings, J. I. Bloch,
E. A. Cadena & C. A. Jaramillo - 2010.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Dyrosauridae.
Species: C. improcerus
(type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Around 1.2 meters
long.
Known locations: Columbia - Cerrej�n Formation.
Time period: Selandian to the Thanetian of the
Palaeocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skulls, vertebrae
and osteoderms.
Cerrejonisuchus is a genus of drysosaurid crocodile that is only represented by partial remains. These remains reveal however that Cerrejonisuchus had one of the shortest snouts of all of the known dryosaurids as well as the shortest body. Hailing from the Cerrej�n Formation, Cerrejonisuchus was probably a predator of fish and possible small mammals. Cerrejonisuchus however may have occasionally been prey to massive predators such as the monster snake Titanoboa. Other animals from the Cerrej�n Formation include the crocodiles Acherontisuchus and Anthracosuchus and the large turtles Carbonemys and Puentemys, as well as large three meter long lungfish.
Further reading
- A new small short-snouted dyrosaurid (Crocodylomorpha,
Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of northeastern Colombia -
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (1): 139–162. -
A. K. Hastings, J. I. Bloch, E. A. Cadena &
C. A. Jaramillo - 2010.
- The postcranial skeleton of Cerrejonisuchus improcerus
(Crocodyliformes: Dyrosauridae) and the unusual anatomy of dyrosaurids.
- PeerJ. 9: e11222. - Isaure Scavezzoni, & Valentin Fischer
2021.