Charitomenosuchus
Name:
Charitomenosuchus
(graceful crocodile).
Phonetic: Cha-re-to-men-o-su-kus.
Named By: Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young
& Stephen L. Brusatte. - 2020.
Synonyms: Steneosaurus leedsi,
Steneosaurus teleosauroides, Steneosaurus pictaviensis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Crocodyliformes, Metasuchia, Thalattosuchia,
Machimosauridae.
Species: C. leedsi (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Skulls up to around 77 centimetres long.
Known locations: England - Oxford Clay Formation.
Time period: Callovian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skulls, mandibles
and vertebra.
Charitomenosuchus
is a genus of thalattosuchian that lived in European waters towards the
end of the middle Jurassic period. As a thalattosuchian,
Charitomenosuchus is more popularly known as a
‘sea crocodile’,
and a member of a group of marine reptiles that seem to have spent
most if not all of their lives in the water. The Charitomenosuchus
genus was born out of a major revision of fossils attributed to the
much older Steneosaurus
genus that for a long time was treated as a
waste basket taxon. This term is used to describe a genus where
fossils with only a remote similarity are attributed to a genus without
more in depth study.
Further reading
- On some new steneosaurs
from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough. - Annals and Magazine of
Natural History. - C. W. Andrews - 1909.
- The
phylogenetics of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia)
and implications for their ecology and evolution. - PeerJ. 8:
e9808. - Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young &
Stephen
L. Brusatte. - 2020.
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