| Hesperosuchus Temporal range: Late Triassic |
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|---|---|
| Hesperosuchus agilis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Crocodylomorpha |
| (unranked): | Sphenosuchia |
| Family: | Sphenosuchidae |
| Genus: | Hesperosuchus |
| Species: | H. agilis |
| Binomial name | |
| Hesperosuchus agilis |
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Hesperosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph reptile that contains a single species, Hesperosuchus agilis. Remains of this sphenosuchian have been found in Late Triassic (Carnian) strata from Arizona and New Mexico.
Hesperosuchus was a contemporary of Coelophysis, a primitive predatory theropod dinosaur. Coelophysis was long thought to have been a cannibal, based on the presence of putative juvenile Coelophysis bones in the gut regions of a few adults. In at least one of these cases, though, the "juvenile Coelophysis" bones were actually those of a Hesperosuchus (or something very similar) instead.[1]
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