In Depth
Leidyosuchus is an often mentioned genus of alligator that is known to have lived in Canada during the late Cretaceous. With a skull about forty centimetres long, Leidyosuchus would be expected to have been a mid-sized alligator and predator of small mammals and quite possibly small dinosaurs too.
There were once many species of Leidyosuchus, but a 1997 review of the genus by Chris Brochu led to many of these species being discovered to actually represent a different genus as that represented by the type species. This led to the creation of the Borealosuchus genus the same year, and at the time of writing that genus now contains four former Leidyosuchus species renamed as species of Borealosuchus.
Further Reading
- On a new crocodilian genus and species from the Judith River Formation of Alberta - Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series 3 1 (4): 219–235. - Lawrence M. Lambe - 1907. - A review of “Leidyosuchus” (Crocodyliformes, Eusuchia) from the Cretaceous through Eocene of North America - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17 (4): 679–697 - C. A. Brochu - 2005.
