Indosuchus
Name:
Indosuchus
(Indian crocodile).
Phonetic: In-do-soo-kus.
Named By: Charles Alfred Matley &
Friedrich von Huene - 1933.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Abelisauridae.
Species: I. raptorius
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: At least 6 meters long.
Known locations: India - Lameta Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull remains.
Although
still often regarded as a valid genus, Indosuchus
is considered by
some to be a nomen dubium. This is because in 1933 Charles Matley
and Friedrich von Huene not only named Indosuchus,
but also Indosaurus
and Compsosuchus,
also from partial remains. Many palaeontologists
consider these three genera to possibly be the same genus of dinosaur,
but direct comparison is now impossible since the holotype of
Indosaurus is now missing.
Indosuchus
is often confused with Indosaurus, not just
because of the similar
names but the fact that they are both thought to have been abelisaurid
theropods. At the time of their descriptions however, abelisaurs
were unknown so Matley and von Huene named both of them as
allosaurids. The suchus part of Indosuchus is
derived from ancient
Greek soukhos which means ‘crocodile’. This actually reveals
Friedrich von Huene’s preference for naming dinosaurs with the named
ending suchus because he thought that crocodiles were more closely
related to dinosaurs than lizards, the literal translation of
‘saurus’ being ‘lizard’.
Further reading
- The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces
of India. - Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the
Geological Survey of India 21(1):1-74. - F. von Huene & C. A.
Matley - 1933.
- Indosuchus and Indosaurus,
Cretaceous carnosaurs from India. -
Journal of Paleontology 52(3): 570-580. - Sankar Chatterjee - 1978.
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