Rhamphosuchus
Name:
Rhamphosuchus
(Beak crocodile).
Phonetic: Ram-foe-soo-kus.
Named By: Falconer & Cautley - 1840.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Crocodylia, Tomistominae.
Species: R. crassidens
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 8 to 11 meters long, although earlier
estimates suggested that it may have been bigger.
Known locations: India.
Time period: Miocene.
Fossil representation: Several fossils of teeth with
jaw and skull fragments.
Rhamphosuchus
is thought to have looked like a modern day false gharial, crocodiles
that have proportionately thin and long snouts compared to other
crocodiles.Rhamphosuchus itself however was much
larger, although
to what extent remains uncertain. This is because Rhamphosuchus
is
currently only known from very fragmentary material that makes
reconstruction of the skull very difficult. This also makes sizing
the full animal difficult because crocodiles are usually estimated by
the size of their skulls in relation to other living crocodiles that a
direct comparison can be drawn from.
Early
size estimates based upon the available material yielded an upper size
between fifteen and eighteen meters long, something that would
comfortably class Rhamphosuchus as the largest ever
crocodile, up to
one and a half times bigger than the famous Sarcosuchus.
However
Rhamphosuchus has since been re-studied with more
modern techniques
along with a broader understanding of crocodile forms, resulting in a
smaller estimate of between eight and eleven meters long. This means
that Rhamphosuchus is now considered to be smaller
than other giants
such as Deinosuchus,
Purussaurus
and the aforementioned Sarcosuchus.
However Rhamphosuchus was still considerably
larger than the largest
known crocodiles today.
Like
the false gharial, Rhamphosuchus had a narrow
snout with multiple
teeth for prey capture. Gharials are usually thought to be
piscivorous fish eaters that may also sometimes incorporate other
prey. Rhamphosuchus could certainly have done the
same, although
its larger size meant that larger prey was on the menu. This does not
rule out fish as a food source as we can often see fish that live in
warm tropical waters also achieving large sizes in their own right.
It’s even probable that the emergence and extinction of
Rhamphosuchus occurred with a specialisation in
large prey that
subsequently disappeared.
| Name | Time/Location | Size (meters) |
| Deinosuchus (alligator-like crocodile). | Cretaceous/USA. | 10-12 |
| Gryposuchus (gharial-like crocodile). | Miocene/S. America. | 10 |
| Mourasuchus (alligator-like crocodile). | Miocene/Peru. | 12 |
| Purussaurus (caiman-like crocodile). | Miocene/S. America. | 11-13 |
| Rhamphosuchus (gharial-like crocodile). | Miocene/India. | 8-11 |
| Sarcosuchus (crocodile). | Cretaceous/Africa. | 9-9.5 |
| Stomatosuchus (crocodile). | Cretaceous/Egypt. | 10 |
| 3 of todays largest living crocs below | ||
| Alligator mississippiensis (American alligator). | Present/S. E. USA. | 3.4 average - up to almost 6. |
| Crocodylus niloticus (Nile crocodile). | Present/Africa. | Average up to 5, largest up to 6.45. |
| Crocodylus porosus (Salt water crocodile). | Present/India, S. E. Asia, N. Australia. | Average 4-5.5, largest recorded 6-6.6, possibly slightly bigger. |
Further reading
- Systematics and body size of the gigantic, enigmatic crocodyloid
Rhamphosuchus crassidens, and the faunal history of
Siwalik Group
(Miocene) crocodylians. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21
(Supplement to No. 3): 59. - A. J. J. Head. - 2001.
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