Dyrosaurus
Name:
Dyrosaurus.
Phonetic: Die-roe-sore-us.
Named By: Auguste Pomel - 1894.
Synonyms: Crocodilus phosphaticus,
Dryosaurus phosphaticus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Dyrosauridae.
Species: D. phosphaticus
(type), D. maghribensis.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Up to 6 meters long.
Known locations: Across North Africa including,
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous through
to the Ypresian of the Eocene. Libyan remains suggest as late as the
Priabonian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.
Dyrosaurus
was a long snouted crocodile
that had jaws filled with numerous, thin
recurved teeth. These kinds of teeth are indicative of a piscivorous
(fish eating) lifestyle. At up to six meters long, Dyrosaurus
were large when compared to modern crocodiles, though positively tiny
when compared to some North African Mesozoic crocodiles like Aegisuchus,
and Sarcosuchus.
Dyrosaurus however managed to survive the KT
extinction sixty-five million years ago, and the genus continued to
be present in North Africa till the Eocene.
Care
should be taken not to confuse Dyrosaurus with the
similarly named
ornithopod dinosaur Dryosaurus.
Further reading
- A new dyrosaurid crocodyliform from the Palaeocene of Morocco and a
phylogenetic analysis of Dyrosauridae. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
50 (3): 581–594. - S. Jouve, M. Iaroch�ne, B. Bouya & M.
Amaghzaz - 2005.
- A new description of the skull of Dyrosaurus phosphaticus (Thomas,
1893) (Mesoeucrocodylia: Dyrosauridae) from the Lower Eocene of North
Africa. - Stephanie Jouve - 2005.
- A new species of Dyrosaurus (Crocodylomorpha, Dyrosauridae) from the
early Eocene of Morocco: phylogenetic implications. - Zoological
Journal of the Linnean Society 148:603-656. - S. Jouve, M. Iarochene,
B. Bouya & M. Amaghzaz - 2006.
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