Shamosuchus
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| Shamosuchus Fossil range: Late Cretaceous |
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Shamosuchus is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodile that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian) period in what is now the Gobi desert of Mongolia, approximately 85 to 65 million years ago. The teeth were adapted to crush bivalves, gastropods and other animals with a shell or exoskeleton[citation needed].
Most of the information on this genus comes from the type species, including a well preserved skull. The eye and nasal openings were not raised above the skull as in modern crocodilians, so that the animal would have to raise its head completely out of the water to breathe[citation needed]. As this cranial morphology does not suit an ambush predator, it lends support to the idea of a diet of aquatic invertebrates.
