Sulcusuchus
Name:
Sulcusuchus.
Phonetic: Sul-ku-soo-kus.
Named By: Gasparini and Spalletti - 1990.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauroidea, Polycotylidae.
Species: S. erraini (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Roughly estimated to grow between 9 to 9.5
meters long.
Known locations: Argentina.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single specimen.
Although the last part of the name ‘suchus’ is ancient Greek for crocodile, Sulcusuchus was actually a plesiosaur, a member of the famous group of long necked marine reptiles of the Mesozoic. In more specific terms it is considered to be a polycotylid plesiosaur, with one of the more famous members of this group being Dolichorhynchops. Like with its close relatives, Sulcusuchus is noted for having a proportionately short neck with jaws longer than most other types of plesiosaur. Other late Cretaceous plesiosaurs known from South America include Aristonectes, although this was quite different from Sulcusuchus.
Further reading
- Un nuevo cocodrilo en los depositos mareales Maastrichtianos de la
Patagonia noroccidental. Ameghiniana 27(1-2):141-150 - Z. Gasparini
& L. A. Spalletti - 1990.
- Revision of Sulcusuchus erraini (Sauropterygia, Polycotylidae) from
the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. - Alcheringa 37: 161–174.
- J. P. O’Gorman & Z. Gasparini - 2013.
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