In Depth
Originally named as a species of Steneosaurus, S. obtusidens was renamed as a distinct genus in 2017. The describers created the name Lemmysuchus which means ‘Lemmy’s crocodile’. This was in honour of Ian Fraser Kilmister, the lead singer and founder of the band Mot�rhead, who everyone knew as Lemmy.
Lemmysuchus was a thalattosuchian, more loosely known as sea crocodile, though not technically related to modern crocodiles. Further to this, Lemmysuchus was a teleosaurid, meaning that it would have retained some terrestrial features and still been able to comfortably move about on land as well as in the water. As such, Lemmysuchus probably roamed about coastal lagoons and coastlines hunting for whatever creatures it could catch. The stronger skull and jaws of Lemmysuchus compared to other teleosaurid genera, suggest that Lemmysuchus could more easily crunch through armoured prey such as turtles and crabs. Relative teleosaurid genera however are more gharial like with long slender jaws more suited to softer prey such as fish.
Further Reading
- On some new Steneosaurs from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough. - Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 3 (15): 299–308. - Andrews C. W. - 1909. - Re-description of ‘Steneosaurus’ obtusidens Andrews, 1909, an unusual macrophagous teleosaurid crocodylomorph from the Middle Jurassic of England. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 182 (2): 385–418. - Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young, Lorna Steel, Davide Foffa, Adam S. Smith, Stephane Hua, Philipe Havlik, Eliza A. Howlett & Gareth Dyke. - 2017.
