Arenysuchus
Name:
Arenysuchus
(Areny crocodile).
Phonetic: Ah-re-ne-soo-kus.
Named By: Eduardo Pu�rtolas, Jos� I. Canudo
& Pen�lope Cruzado-Caballero - 2011
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Crocodylia, Crocodyloidea.
Species: A. gascabadiolorum
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Skull about 18-19 centimetres long.
Known locations: Spain - Tremp Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and teeth.
A member of the Crocodyloidea which includes surviving modern species, Arenysuchus is still regarded as a more basal form due to the frontal skull bones contacting the fenestra (openings) on top of the skull. At the time of writing only a partial skull of Arenysuchus is known, but at just under twenty centimetres long it would seem that Arenysuchus was not as huge as some prehistoric crocodiles such as Aegisuchus. Arenysuchus probably hunted for smaller land vertebrates and fish, and may have lived in the same habitats as hadrosaurid dinosaurs like Arenysaurus.
Further reading
- A New Crocodylian from the Late Maastrichtian of Spain:
Implications for the Initial Radiation of Crocodyloids, Eduardo
Pu�rtolas, Jos� I. Canudo & Pen�lope Cruzado-Caballero
-
2011.
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