Aplestosuchus
Name:
Aplestosuchus
(gluttonous crocodile).
Phonetic: A-pless-toe-soo-kus.
Named By: P. L. Godoy, F. C. Montefeltro,
M. A. Norell & M. C. Langer - 2014.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Notosuchia, Baurusuchidae, Baurusuchinae.
Species: A. sordidus (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Roughly about 2 meters long.
Known locations: Brazil, S�o Paulo -
Adamantina Formation.
Time period: Late Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull as well as partial
articulated skeleton.
Aplestosuchus
has been one of the most exciting notosuchian discoveries as the
holotype specimen of the genus was found to have had the teeth and
partial skull remains of a smaller sphagesaurid crocodyliform within
the abdominal cavity. The partial state of preservation of these
remains as opposed to the much better state of preservation for the
Aplestosuchus as well as their location indicate
that these were once
stomach contents of the Aplestosuchus. This has
become the first
known occurrence in the fossil record of one kind of crocodyliform
preying upon another. This behaviour was directly responsible for the
creating of the type genus name Aplestosuchus sordidus
which translates
to English as ‘filthy gluttonous crocodile’.
The
skull of the Aplestosuchus holotype is roughly
about thirty-six
centimetres long, and with the associated skeletal remains, the
holotype individual of Aplestosuchus measures just
over one meter in
length from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail. The tail is
unknown at the time of writing, but comparison to similarly formed
relative genera suggests that all together Aplestosuchus
holotype
individual would have measured about two meters long. Aplestosuchus
and other similarly sized baurusuchids would have been mid-level
predators, capable of tackling fairly substantial prey themselves,
but unable to take down the larger animals of their ecosystems. The
top predators of South America at the time that Aplestosuchus
lived in
Brazil, would have abelisaurid
and carcharodontosaurid
theropod
dinosaurs, partial remains of which (particularly of teeth) are
known from the same area that the Aplestosuchus
holotype was recovered
from.
Further reading
- An Additional Baurusuchid from the Cretaceous of Brazil with
Evidence of Interspecific Predation among Crocodyliformes. PLoS ONE
9 (5): e97138 - P. L. Godoy, F. C. Montefeltro,
M. A. Norell & M. C. Langer - 2014.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |
 |