Theriosuchus is an extinct genus of atoposaurid mesoeucrocodylian from the Late Jurassic of Europe, the Early Cretaceous of Asia and the Late Cretaceous of Romania. The five species are T. pusillus from England (Owen, 1879), T. ibericus from Spain (Brinkmann, 1992), T. guimarotae from Portugal (Schwarz & Salisbury, 2005), T. sympiestodon from Romania (Jeremy E. Martin, Márton Rabi & Zoltán Csiki, 2010) and T. grandinaris from Berriasian-Barremian of Thailand (Lauprasert et al., 2011).

 Theriosuchus was a common terrestrial mesoeucrocodylian in Europe during the Cretaceous. Fossils belonging to the genus are abundant at several European sites. It was one of the few basal mesoeucrocodylians to exist in Laurasia during the Late Cretaceous, a time when many basal forms such as notosuchians and araripesuchids were present in Gondwana. Some other basal mesoeucrocodylians present in Europe at this time were Doratodon and Ischyrochampsa.

 There is a 58-million-year gap in the fossil record of the genus that spans between the last occurrence of Early Cretaceous species and the appearance of the Late Cretaceous T. sympiestodon. Described in 2010, T. sympiestodon was found in the Haţeg Basin of Romania. During the Late Cretaceous, this area was part of Haţeg Island, which was part of an archipelago that spanned the Tethys Ocean.

 Репродукция:

 Ископаемые останки:

Tags: Вымершие рептилии, Мел, архозавроморфы, архозавры, атопозавриды, диапсиды, крокодиломорфы, круротарзы, мезоэукрокодилии, неозухии, равизухии

(Leave a comment)