Deinosuchus
| Deinosuchus | ||||||||||||
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Skeletal reconstruction of Deinosuchus in the Natural History Museum of Utah. |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Campanium ( Upper Cretaceous ) | ||||||||||||
| 83.5 to 70.6 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Deinosuchus | ||||||||||||
| Holland , 1909 |
Deinosuchus ("Terrible crocodile god", ancient Greek δεινός deinós , German 'terrible, mighty' and ancient Greek Σοῦχος Sûchos , German ' Sobek ' ) Syn .: Phobosuchus , is an extinct genus of crocodiles from the late Cretaceous ( Campanium ) of North America . The North American continent was then dividedinto two partsby a shallow sea - the Western Interior Seaway .
Three types have been described so far:
- Deinosuchus rugosus
- Deinosuchus riograndensis
- Deinosuchus schwimmeri
Way of life
So far only fossil skulls up to two meters long have been found by Deinosuchus , but no complete skeletons. The total length of the crocodile can be estimated from the head / total length ratio of currently living species, according to which the possible values are about 10 meters; some researchers assume up to 15 meters. For many decades, the animal was therefore considered to be the greatest representative in the tribal history of the crocodiles. However, fossil finds of crocodiles such as Sarcosuchus , Purussaurus and Rhamphosuchus indicated that these could reach a similar length. Sarcosuchus is the only genus that has a complete skeleton. Deinosuchus was probably built more compact than today's crocodiles. Today its length is estimated at ten to twelve meters.
The skull proportions of Deinosuchus similar to that of modern Nile crocodile , an animal with a large range of prey that hunts fish and crustaceans in the water turtles and large mammals such as wildebeest and zebra in wait that come ashore to drink. Due to the anatomical similarity, one suspects a comparable behavior for Deinosuchus when hunting large land vertebrates . Deinosuchus probably lurked in rivers or swamps for dinosaurs and other animals that came too close to the water. He grabbed the prey with its strong jaws and large but blunt, conical teeth and pulled it to the water to drown it. The jaw biting force was up to 102 kilonewtons with a body weight of 3.45 tons .
Find history
Deinosuchus fossils have been found in both freshwater and marine deposits . The first fossil of the species Deinosuchus hatcheri was found by William Jacob Holland at Willow Creek in Montana in the Judith River Formation.
Further finds in Big Bend National Park in Texas were assigned to the genus Phobosuchus by Edwin Harris Colbert and RT Bird in 1954 . They have now been classified as D. riograndensis . There were other finds in Alabama , Georgia , New Jersey , North Carolina , Wyoming and in New Mexico . Deinosuchus was originally assigned to the family of real crocodiles (Crocodylidae), but after a well-preserved piece of skull has been found, it is considered to be an original member of the Alligatoroidea .
further reading
- William J. Holland : Deinosuchus hatcheri, a new genus and species of crocodile from the Judith River beds of Montana. In: Annals of the Carnegie Museum. Vol. 6, No. 1, 1909, ISSN 0097-4463 , pp. 281-294.
- Edwin H. Colbert , Roland T. Bird: A Gigantic Crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous Beds of Texas (= American Museum Novitates. No. 1688, ISSN 0003-0082 ). American Museum of Natural History, New York NY 1954, online .
- Spencer G. Lucas, Robert M. Sullivan, Justin A. Spielmann: The Giant Crocodylian Deinosuchus from the Upper Cretacous of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. In: Spencer G. Lucas, Robert M. Sullivan (Eds.): Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior (= New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. Bulletin. 35, ISSN 1524-4156 ). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque NM 2006, pp. 245–248, digital copy (PDF; 3.34 MB) .
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 . Vol. 7, No. 3, 2012, e31781. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0031781 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adam P. Cossette & Christopher A. Brochu. A systematic review of the giant alligatoroid Deinosuchus from the Campanian of North America and its implications for the relationships at the root of Crocodylia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, July 29, 2020; doi: 10.1080 / 02724634.2020.1767638
- ↑ Erickson et al. 2012 , p. 11.
Web links
- Deinosuchus in the Paleobiology Database