Name:
Litargosuchus
(running fast crocodile).
Phonetic: Lit-ar-go-su-kuss.
Named By: J. M. Clark & H.-D. Sues
- 2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Sphenosuchia, Sphenosuchidae.
Species: L. leptorhynchus
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Skull roughly 7 centimetres long.
Known locations: South Africa - Elliot Formation.
Time period: Hettangian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Complete skull and partial
post cranial skeleton.
Initially thought to represent Pedeticosaurus, though not assigned to an exact species, Litargosuchus was later established upon the description of a complete skull and partial post cranial skeleton. Litargosuchus would have been a fast running predator of smaller vertebrates such as lizards, though larger invertebrates may have also been taken.
Further reading
- Two new basal crocodylomorph archosaur from the Lower Jurassic and
the monophyly of the Sphenosuchia. - Zoological Journal of the
Linnean Society 136:77-95. - J. M. Clark & H.-D.
Sues - 2002.