Dyrosaurus

Dyrosaurus Temporal range: Eocene, 55–40Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Jaw and other fragments
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Family:	†Dyrosauridae
Genus:	†Dyrosaurus Pomel, 1894
Species
†D. phosphaticus (Thomas, 1893) (type) †D. maghribensis Jouve et al., 2006

Restoration

Vertebra

Dyrosaurus was an extinct genus of marine dyrosaurid crocodyliform from the Eocene of North Africa. It was a large animal, reaching 6 meters in size. The type species D. phosphaticus possessed slender jaws with numerous recurved teeth, indicative of a primarily fish diet (similar to the extant gharial). Dyrosaurus teeth have smooth enamel and are long and often sharp, helping it to hunt fast-moving prey. French paleontologist Auguste Pomel named the genus in 1894 for Djebel Dyr, a mountain near Tebessa in Algeria, where its fossil vertebrae were found in a phosphate mine. Other remains had been found earlier in another phosphate mine in Tunisia and described as Crocodylus phosphaticus Thomas, 1893, which became the type species.

References

• Buffetaut E. 1985. L'évolution des crocodiliens. Les animaux disparus-Pour la science, Paris, p. 109
• Pomel, A. N. 1894. Découverte de Champsosauriens dans les gisements de phosphorite du suessonien de l'Algérie. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences,118 : 1309-1310.