Deinosuchus

***Deinosuchus*** is a genus of prehistoric crocodile-like creatures from the Cretaceous, 80 to 73 million years ago. It had wide, strong jaws and a skull as long as a man. The rest of its body has never been found. It could have been 12 m long and weighed more than 8.5 tons.

## Description

It had large, robust teeth that were built for crushing, and its back was covered with thick round bony plates. One study indicates that *Deinosuchus* may have lived for up to 50 years, growing at a similar rate to that of modern crocodilians, but maintaining this growth over a much longer period of time.

Although *Deinosuchus* was far larger than any modern crocodile or alligator—measuring up to 12 m. (39 ft.) and weighing up to 8.5 metric tons (9.4 short tons)—its overall appearance was fairly similar to its modern relatives.

## History

The first remains were discovered in North Carolina in the 1850s, but it was not until 1909 that the genus was named and described.

Additional fragments were discovered in the 1940s and were later made into an influential, but inaccurate, skull reconstruction at the American Museum of Natural History. Knowledge of *Deinosuchus* is still incomplete, but better skull material has been found in recent years.

*Deinosuchus* fossils have been found in ten U.S. states, as well as northern Mexico. It lived on both sides of the Western Interior Seaway, and was an ambush apex predator in the coastal regions of eastern North America.

## Paleobiology

*Deinosuchus* reached its largest size in its western habitat, but the eastern populations were far more abundant. Opinion remains divided as to whether these two populations represent separate species. *Deinosuchus* was probably capable of killing and eating large dinosaurs, even carnivorous tyrannosaurs.  It may have also fed upon sea turtles, fish, and other aquatic and terrestrial prey.

## Classification

*Deinosuchus* was classified in the family Crocodylidae by Colbert and Bird, based on teeth that looked like those of crocodiles. But, a re-evaluation run in 1999 by Brochu proved that *Deinosuchus* was actually a primitive member of Alligatoroidea. Thus, *Deinosuchus* "is not the world's largest crocodile—it is one of the largest alligators."  This classification was helped in 2005 by the finding of a well-preserved *Deinosuchus* braincase from the Blufftown Formation of Alabama, which shows some traits that looked like of those in the American alligator. While it was a prehistoric member of the same clade, *Deinosuchus* was not a direct ancestor of modern alligators. Its closest relatives may have been *Leidyosuchus* and *Diplocynodon*.

Schwimmer (2002) thought all *Deinosuchus* specimens came from one species. He noted that there were more similarities than differences between the eastern and western populations, and that most of these differences just had to do with the larger size of the western ones. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature's rules of priority, this species would be named *D. rugosus*. Lucas *et al.* (2006) thought *Deinosuchus* had just one species too. But, Brochu (2003) questioned Schwimmer's study, and said that size might be a significant diagnostic feature and that a lot of the traits used by Schwimmer to prove the two were the same are in fact primitive traits shared by other genera as well. Schwimmer (2002) informally called the western populations as *D. riograndensis*, and researchers, such as Anglen and Lehman (2000) and Westgate *et al.* (2006) have recently assigned western *Deinosuchus* remains to this species too.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Deinosuchus ("terrible crocodile") is a giant crocodilian, closely related to the modern alligators and caimans (Central and South American crocodilians). Deinosuchus is a gigantic predator, up to 40 feet (12 m) long. Because crocodilians are more heavily built than theropods, or meat-eating dinosaurs, the largest Deinosuchus would have been larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus, or Spinosaurus. Deinosuchus is sometimes pictured as eating dinosaurs. While it most likely would have eaten a dinosaur if one came close, it probably hunted prey that was more common in the swamps where it lived. Some paleontologists speculate that it was mostly a hunter of large turtles. Although crocodilians survived the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period, Deinosuchus did not.

## Fun Facts

Most specimens of Deinosuchus consist of individual teeth or armored plates.

## Trivia

No modern crocodiles are as big as
Deinosuchus, but the saltwater crocodile of Australia and the Indian Ocean region
grows up to 20 feet (6 m) long, bigger than any land-living predator in the modern world!

## Gallery

Deinosuchus (Croc), Birds, Pterosaurs and Kritosaurs
## Appearance in other media

### *Jurassic Park*

* During Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom while Eli Mills presents the Indoraptor via hologram, the Indominus rex hologram shows that it had *Deinosuchus* DNA used for the number of teeth it has. This likely hints that the Indominus rex also had *Deinosuchus* DNA acquired by InGen for the hybrid.

### *The Land Before Time*

* A *Deinosuchus* name Dil appears in The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists.

## References

1. ↑ Colbert, Edwin H. (1961). *Dinosaurs: their discovery and their world*. E.P. Dutton. p. 243.
2. ↑ Debus, Allen (2002). Dinosaur memories. Authors Choice Press. p. 265. ISBN 0-595-22988-3.
3. ↑ Brochu, Christopher A. (2003). "Review of *King of the Crocodylians: the paleobiology of Deinosuchus*". *Palaios* **18** (1): 79–82. doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0080:BR>2.0.CO;2.
4. ↑ Colbert, Edwin H; Bird, Roland T. (1954). "A gigantic crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous beds of Texas" (pdf). *American Museum Novitates* (American Museum of Natural History) **1688**: 1–22. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
5. ↑ Brochu, Christopher A. (June 14, 1999). "Phylogenetics, Taxonomy, and Historical Biogeography of Alligatoroidea". *Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir* **6**: 9–100. doi:10.2307/3889340. JSTOR 3889340.
6. ↑ Template:Cite journal
7. ↑ Template:Cite book
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Schwimmer, David R. (2002). "How Many *Deinosuchus* Species Existed?". *King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus*. Indiana University Press. pp. 107–135. ISBN 0-253-34087-X.
9. ↑ Lucas, Spencer G.; Sullivan, Robert M.; Spielmann, Justin A. (2006). "The giant crocodylian *Deinosuchus* from the Upper Cretaceous of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico" (pdf). *New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin* **35**: 247.
10. ↑ Brochu, Christopher A. (2003). "Review of *King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus*". *Palaios* **18** (1): 79–82. doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0080:BR>2.0.CO;2.
11. ↑ Westgate, James; Brown, R.; Pittman, Jeffrey; Cope, Dana; Calb, Jon (2006). "First occurrences of *Deinosuchus* in Mexico". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology* **26** (Supplement to 3): 138A.
12. ↑ Anglen, John J.; Lehman, Thomas M. (2000). "Habitat of the giant crocodilian *Deinosuchus*, Aguja Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Big Bend National Park, Texas". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology* **20** (Supplement to 3): 26A.
13. ↑ JPInstitute.com, Dinolab, Dino Academy, Art Gallery. Link.