Pristichampsus
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| Pristichampsus Fossil range: Paleocene to Eocene |
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Pristichampsus ("saw crocodile") is an extinct genus of crocodylian that grew to approximately three metres (10 ft) in length.
Pristichampsus was heavily armoured, with long limbs indicating a cursorial (i.e. running) lifestyle. Its toes had hoof-like unguls on them. Paleontologists hypothesise that it hunted terrestrial mammals. Pristichampsus's teeth were laterally compressed, sharp and had serrated edges. Due to their similarity to those of certain theropod dinosaurs they were initially mistaken for theropod teeth, leading paleontologists to believe that some dinosaurs survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event.[citation needed]
Several remains of Pristichampsus have been found around the world: P. rollinatii, the type species from the Lutetian of France; P. vorax from the Middle Eocene of Wyoming and and West Texas; P. hengdongensis from the Paleocene of the Hengdon Basin in China, P. birjukovi and P. kuznetzovi from the Middle Eocene of Eastern Kazakhstan; P. geiseltalensis and P. magnifrons from the Lutetian of Germany. It is possible they evolved more armor to stay safer from terror birds (which preyed on the same mammals).
[edit] Terristrial adaptations
The species, P. rollinatii displays the range of morphological adaptations to terrestrial carnivory made by this genus (Rossmann, 2000). It had extensive armour (osteoderms), and would have been an unlike swimmer, while the tail was more reminiscint of a dinosaur's, being round in cross-section and lacking the osteoderm crest observed in extant species. It also had relativey long limbs with the hoof-like unguals, and was capable of galloping and facultative bipedalism. However, this would only have been possible at high speeds as the centre of gravity moves in front of the pelvis.
[edit] References
Rossmann T. 2000. Studies on Cenozoic crocodiles: 5. Biomechanical investigation on the postcranial skeleton of the Palaeogene crocodile Pristichampsus rollinatii (Eusuchia: Pristichampsidae). Neues Jahbuch fuer Geologie und Paläontologie Abh. 217 (3) 289-300.
