Prestosuchus
Name:
Prestosuchus
(fast Crocodile).
Phonetic: Press-toe-soo-kus.
Named By: Friedrich von Huene - 1942.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Rauisuchia,
Paracrocodylomorpha, Prestosuchidae.
Species: P. chiniquensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Usually credited as up to 5 meters long.
An individual discovered in Brazil in 2010 was credited as the
equivalent of 6.7 meters long at the time of its discovery.
Known locations: Brazil - Santa Maria Formation.
Time period: Ladinian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Several individuals, at
least one almost complete.
There
appears to be some confusion regarding the full size of Prestosuchus.
Earlier fossil discoveries seemed to point at a total length of around
five hundred centimetres for an adult Prestosuchus.
However an almost
complete specimen reported in 2010 was stated as being the
equivalent of about six hundred and seventy centimetres long. If this
is correct, then Prestosuchus would represent one
of the largest
rauisuchian
predators that we know about, with only the genus
Saurosuchus
being larger.
Regardless
of what the adult size of Prestosuchus was, it
was without doubt an
apex predator that would have targeted other reasonably large animals.
Rauisuchians like Prestosuchus are usually seen as
ambush predators,
rearing up and delivering a strong bite to the back of a target
animal. Evidence does actually support his, as the aforementioned
2010 specimen of Prestosuchus was found in
sedimentary rock that has
been perceived to have been a watering hole for local wildlife.
Ambush predators are known to haunt such locations as inevitably prey
species will come to them in order to drink.
The
key thing about the 2010 specimen of Prestosuchus
is that it
included a remarkably well preserved rear leg, so much so that
paleontologists were able to accurately reconstruct the muscle groups
of the leg, and allowing for a more accurate general reconstruction
of the animal. In Prestosuchus the strongest and
best developed
muscles of the rear leg were for limb rotation, not back and forth
movement, which indicates that Prestosuchus had a
primarily
quadrupedal posture. It should be pointed out however that other
types of rauisuchian such as poposaurids like Poposaurus,
seem to
have been primarily bipedal.
Further reading
- Lieferungen 3/4. Pseudosuchia, Saurischia, Rhynchosauridae
und Schlussabschnitt [Parts 3/4. Pseudosuchia, Saurischia,
Rhynchosauridae, and Conclusions]. Die Fossilen Reptilien des
S�damerikanischen Gondwanalandes. Ergebnisse der Sauriergrabungen in
S�dbrasilien 1928/29 [The Fossil Reptiles of South American
Gondwanaland. Results of the Dinosaur Expeditions in southern Brazil
1928/29]. - C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, M�nchen
161-332. - Friedrich von Huene - 1942.
- A reconstruction of the thigh musculature of the extinct
pseudosuchian Prestosuchus chiniquensis from the
Dinodontosaurus
Assemblage Zone (Middle Triassic Epoch), Santa Maria 1
Sequence, southern Brazil. - Geological Society, London,
Special Publications. doi:10.1144/SP379.20. - A. Liparini
& C. L. Schultz - 2013.
- The braincase of Prestosuchus chiniquensis
(Archosauria:
Suchia) - Geological Society of London Special Publications
08/2013; 379(1):425-440. DOI: 10.1144/SP379.10 - B.
M. Mastrantonio, C. L. Schultz, J. B. Desojo &
J.
B. Garcia - 2013.
- New insights on Prestosuchus chiniquensis Huene, 1942 (Pseudosuchia,
Loricata) based on new specimens from the "Tree Sanga" Outcrop,
Chiniqu� Region, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. - PeerJ. 4: e1622. - Marcel
B. Lacerda, Bianca M. Mastrantonio, Daniel C. Fortier & Cesar
L. Schultz - 2016.
- On the presence of the subnarial foramen in Prestosuchus chiniquensis
(Pseudosuchia: Loricata) with remarks on its phylogenetic distribution.
- Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ci�ncias. 88 (3): 1309–1323. - L�cio
Roberto-Da-Silva, Marco A. G. Fran�a, S�rgio F. Cabreira, Rodrigo T.
M�ller & S�rgio Dias-Da-Silva - 2016.
- An impressive skeleton of the giant top predator Prestosuchus
chiniquensis (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) from the Triassic of Southern
Brazil, with phylogenetic remarks. - Historical Biology. 0: 1–20. -
L�cio Roberto-Da-Silva, Rodrigo Temp M�ller, Aur�lio Gallo de Marco,
S�rgio Furtado Cabreira & S�rgio Dias-Da-Silva - 2018.
- Anatomy, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Prestosuchus
chiniquensis (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the original collection
of von Huene, Middle-Late Triassic of southern Brazil. - Palaeontologia
Electronica. 23 (1): 1–55. - Julia Brenda Desojo, Mar�a Bel�n von
Baczko & Oliver W.M. Rauhut - 2020.
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