Postosuchus
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| Postosuchus Fossil range: Late Triassic |
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 Postosuchus kirkpatricki
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Postosuchus was a basal archosaur which lived in what is now North America during the middle through to the late Triassic period (228-202 million years ago). It was a rauisuchian, a cousin of crocodiles and came from the same ancestry as dinosaurs. Its name means "crocodile from Post", named after the Post Quarry in Texas, where many fossils of the species were found. It was one of the top predators of its area during the Triassic, larger than the small dinosaur predators of its time (such as Megapnosaurus and Coelophysis). It was a hunter which probably preyed on dicynodonts and many other creatures smaller than itself.
Postosuchus was a quadrupedal reptile with a wide skull and a long tail. It was about 6 meters long, 2 meters tall, and was held up by columnar legs (a quite uncommon feature in reptiles). A crocodile-like snout, filled with many large-sized dagger-like teeth, was used to kill its prey. Rows of protective plates covering its back formed a defensive shield.
[edit] In popular culture
- Postosuchus appears in the first program of the BBC's series Walking with Dinosaurs, where CG animation was used to recreate extinct creatures of the Mesozoic era. In this episode, it appears as the top predator, preying on Placerias, large dicynodonts. In one segment a female Postosuchus sustains a fatal injury when hunting, loses her territory to another Postosuchus, and is finally killed by a swarm of Coelophysis, too weak to defend herself. It also shows up in Dinosaurs Alive where it drowns in a flash flood trying to eat a group of Coelophysis.
