Dinosuchus

Dinosuchus is a genus of extinct alligatorid crocodilian. It was very large compared to other alligatorids, save for the giant caiman Purussaurus and its closest relatives. The genus was first described in 1876 on the basis of a vertebra from the Brazilian Amazon, the type species being named D. terror. In 1921, a new species of Dinosuchus, D. neivensis, was named based on a large mandible that was discovered in Colombia. D. neivensis was later found to be synonymous with both Brachygnathosuchus braziliensis and Purussaurus brasiliensis, being reassigned in 1924 to the senior synonym P. brasiliensis. In 1965, D. terror was proposed to be a nomen vanum. In 1936, Robert Broom used the name Dinosuchus for a dinocephalian therapsid from South Africa. Broom's Dinosuchus is now considered a junior synonym of Anteosaurus.

Dinosuchus

M. Paul Gervais · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AlligatoridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 6.3 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 11.63 Mya and 5.333 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.9–9.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.7–9.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.5–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–9.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.0–8.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.7–8.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.5–8.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.2–8.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.0–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.5–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.8–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–6.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.0–5.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.8–5.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.1 Mya4.8 Mya

1 occurrence of Dinosuchus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Solimões — 6.50°S, 69.67°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dinosuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Dinosuchus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dinosuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

15 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Dinosuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Dinosuchus

Credit
M. Paul Gervais
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dinosuchus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlligatoridae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gervais 1876