Deinosuchus

Skeletal reconstruction of Deinosuchus at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

  • North America

Deinosuchus ( " fearsome crocodile " ), formerly Phobosuchus, is an extinct genus of crocodiles from the Late Cretaceous ( Campanian ) of North America. Two species have been described so far:

  • Deinosuchus rugosus
  • D. riograndensis

Way of life

So far, only fossil skull found by Deinosuchus which reach up to two meters in length. The total length of the crocodile you have by comparison with living species currently estimate the values ​​obtained are about 10 meters, some researchers go up to 15 meters from. For many decades, therefore, was the animal as the largest representative in the phylogeny of crocodiles. Fossils of crocodiles as Sarcosuchus, Purussaurus and Rhamphosuchus, however, showed that they could achieve a similar length. Sarcosuchus is the only genus of a complete skeleton exists. Probably Deinosuchus was stockier built than today's crocodiles. Today, it is estimated its length to ten to twelve meters.

The skull proportions of Deinosuchus resemble that of modern Nile crocodile, an animal with a large range of prey, the turtles, fish and crustaceans in the water and hunts large mammals such as wildebeests and zebras in wait, come to the shore to drink. Due to the anatomical similarity suspected a similar behavior when hunting large land vertebrates for Deinosuchus. Probably Deinosuchus lurked in rivers or swamps on dinosaurs and other animals that came too close to the water. He grabbed the prey with its powerful jaws and large but blunt conical teeth and pulled it to the water to drown it. The bite force of the jaw was up to 102 kN at a body weight of 3.45 tons.

Fund history

Deinosuchus fossils have been found in both freshwater and in marine sediments. The first fossil of the species Deinosuchus hatcheri was found by William Jacob Holland at Willow Creek in Montana in the Judith River Formation.

Other finds in the Big Bend National Park in Texas in 1954 by Edwin Harris Colbert and RT Bird assigned to the genus Phobosuchus. Meanwhile, they were classified as D. riograndensis. Other discoveries were in Alabama, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wyoming and New Mexico. Originally Deinosuchus the family of genuine crocodile ( Crocodylidae ) has been assigned but after the discovery of a well-preserved skull piece he is regarded as an original member of the Alligatoroidea.

Further Reading

  • Holland, W. J (1909 ): Deinosuchus hatcheri, a new genus and species of crocodile from the Judith River beds of Montana. Ann. Carnegie Mus. 6, p. 281-294.
  • Colbert EH, RT Bird. 1954: A gigantic crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous beds of Texas. American Museum Novitates. 1688: 1-22. (PDF)
  • 2006: The giant crocodylian Deinosuchus from the Upper Cretacous of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. In: Lucas, SG and Sullivan, RM, eds, 2006, Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior. . New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35 PDF - file

Swell

Used literature

  • Gregory M. Erickson, Paul M. Gignac, Scott J. Steppan, A. Kristopher Lappin, Kent A. Vliet, John D. Brueggen, Brian D. Inouye, David Kledzik, Grahame JW Webb: Insights into the Ecology and Evolutionary Success of crocodilians Revealed through Bite Force and Tooth -Pressure Experimentation. In: PLoS One 7 (3 ), 2012, e31781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031781.
Mya (unit) Archosaur Georgia (U.S. state) Digital Object Identifier
225749
de