Elosuchus

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Elosuchus
Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Elosuchus cherifiensis
Elosuchus cherifiensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
(unranked) Mesoeucrocodylia
Family: Elosuchidae
Genus: Elosuchus
de Broin, 2002
Species
  • S. cherifiensis (Lavocat, 1955) Broin, 2002
  • S. felixi Broin, 2002
Skull of Elosuchus cherifiensis.
Skull of Elosuchus cherifiensis.

Elosuchus is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodile that lived during the Early Cretaceous of what is now North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Niger). The genus contains two species, E. cherifiensis from Algeria and Morocco, formely described as a species of Thoracosaurus by Lavocat, [1] and E. felixi from Niger. The genus has been recognized to be separate from Thoracosaurus by Broin in 2002.[2] who created the family Elosuchidae that also contains the genus Stolokrosuchus from Niger.[3] Elosuchus had an elongated snout like a gharial and was probably a fully aquatic animal.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lavocat, R., 1955, Decouverte d'un Crocodilien du genre Thoracosaurus dans le Cretace Superiuer d'Afrique: Bulletin du Museum National d'Historie Naturelle, Paris, v. 2, n. 27, p. 338-340.
  2. ^ de Broin, F. de L., 2002, Elosuchus, a new genus of crocodile from the Lower Cretaceous of the North of Africa: C. R. Palevol, v. 1, p. 275-285.
  3. ^ Larrson, H. C. E., and Gado, B., 2000, A new early Cretaceous crocodyliform from Niger: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen, v. 217, n. 1, p. 131-141.