Tadzhikosuchus
Name:
Tadzhikosuchus
(Tadzhikistan crocodile).
Phonetic: Tad-see-ko-soo-kus.
Named By: Efimov – 1982.
Synonyms: Tadzhikosuchus neutralis,
Tadzhikosuchus kizylkumensis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Eusuchia?
Species: T. macrodentis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: Tajikistan - Yalovach
Formation. Uzbekistan - Bissekty Formation.
Time period: Turonian to Santonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains of at least
three individuals.
Tadzhikosuchus
was a late Cretaceous era crocodile
that lived in what would become
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Three species were once named for the
genus but a 2000 review resulted in the observation that no
differences between the available fossils could differentiate three
separate species. Therefore the species T. neutralis
and T.
kizylkumensis are now referred to the type species, T.
macrodentis.
There
is also uncertainty about Tadzhikosuchus at the
genus level. Another
genus of crocodile from the same locations of Uzbekistan that
Tadzhikosuchus is known from is Zhyrasuchus.
Zhyrasuchus has been
speculated to be a synonym of Tadzhikosuchus, but
the limited fossil
remains of Zhyrasuchus have so far made it
impossible to prove this
theory. The Tadzhikosuchus genus itself has also
been considered to
be a synonym of Diplocynodon,
a crocodile that lived in Europe many
millions of years later around the Eocene to Miocene periods. The
only notable differences between Tadzhikosuchus and
Diplocynodon are
seen in the tooth shapes and socket positions, so it may be that the
genus Tadzhikosuchus actually represents a species
of Diplocynodon.
If
correct then it would indicate that the genus Diplocynodon
survived the
KT extinction that marks the end of many reptile groups such as the
dinosaurs, pterosaurs
and marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs
and
mosasaurs.
This is not actually that unusual as other genera of
crocodiles are believed to have survived the KT extinction, with
Brachychampsa
and Dyrosaurus
to name just two genera that did this.
Further reading
- A two-fanged crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous in Tadzhikistan -
Efimov - 1982.
- Mesozoic crocodyliforms of north-central Eurasia. In M. J.
Benton, M. A. Shishkin, D. M. Unwin, E. N.
Kurochkin (eds.), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia
402-419 - G. W. Storrs and M. B. Efimov - 2000.
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