Diandongosuchus
Name:
Diandongosuchus
(Diandong crocodile).
Phonetic: De-an-dong-o-soo-kus.
Named By: C. Li, X. -C. Wu, L. Zhao,
T. Sato & L. Wang - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Rauisuchia,
Paracrocodylomorpha Poposauroidea.
Species: D. fuyuanensis
(type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Total length estimated about 1.5 meters
long.
Known locations: China, Yunna Province -
Falang Formation, Zhuganpo Member.
Time period: Ladinian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Almost complete skull and
skeleton missing the tail.
Diandongosuchus
is classed as a poposaurid rauisuchian,
though while most of the
members of this group such as Poposaurus,
Arizonasaurus
and
Lotosaurus
are terrestrial, Diandongosuchus seems
to have been
semiaquatic and living in a similar manner to a crocodile. At the
time of writing the only other poposaurid thought to be similar to
Diandongosuchus is Qianosuchus
which was named
earlier. However it
should be pointed out that the Poposauridae is a group of rauisuchians
that is often used to house all of the odds and ends genera that don’t
quite fit in anywhere else.
A
semi-aquatic lifestyle for Diandongosuchus has been
established upon
the basis that the holotype specimen was found in a marine rock
deposit, and with the remains of fish within its stomach contents,
clearly indicating that Diandongosuchus was a fish
eater
(piscivore). The position of the nostrils is also further back on
the skull, while the premaxilla (the forward tooth bearing bone of
the upper jaw) has a larger than usual number of teeth. These
features are commonly seen upon other fish eating animals as they help
facilitate prey capture.
Further reading
- A new archosaur (Diapsida, Archosauriformes) from the marine
Triassic of China. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
32(5):1064-1081 - C. Li, X. -C. Wu, L. Zhao, T.
Sato & L. Wang - 2012.
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