| Elosuchus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Name | Elosuchus | |||
| Class | Chordata | |||
| Name Translation | Acheron Crocodile | |||
| Period | Early Cretaceous | |||
| Location | Morocco and Algeria | |||
| Diet | Carnivore | |||
| Size | Estimated to be 4-6 meters long | |||
Elosuchus (Fortignathus) is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodyliform that lived during the Early Cretaceous of what is now North Africa (Morocco and Algeria).
Description and taxonomy[]
Elosuchus had an elongated snout like a gharial and was probably a fully aquatic animal. The type species, E. cherifiensis from Algeria and Morocco, was originally described as a species of Thoracosaurus by Lavocat, but was recognized as a genus separate from Thoracosaurus by de Broin in 2002. Elosuchus felixi, described from the Echkar Formation of Niger, was renamed Fortignathus in 2016 and is either a dyrosaurid relative or a non-hyposaurine dyrosaurid.
Phylogeny[]
de Broin (2002) created the family Elosuchidae to contain Elosuchus and the genus Stolokrosuchus from Niger. However, recent phylogenetic analyses usually find Stolokrosuchus to be one of the basalmost neosuchian, only distantly related to Elosuchus. Some analyses find a monophyletic Pholidosauridae that includes Elosuchus, while other analyses find Elosuchus to nest with taxa like Sarcosuchus in a clade as a sister-taxon to the node Dyrosauridae & Pholidosauridae.
In Popular Culture[]
- In Planet Dinosaur, an African Crocodyliform featured in Episodes 1 & 5 is considered to be Elosuchus since their remains have been found in Africa along with other Bigger species of Crocodiles like Sarcosuchus.
- A Skull of Elosuchus has been briefly seen on the PBS NOVA National Geographic Special “Bigger Than T.Rex”.
Gallery[]
Elosuchus/Gallery