Gilchristosuchus
Name:
Gilchristosuchus
(Gilchrist crocodile).
Phonetic: Gil-cry-st-soo-kus.
Named By: X. C. Wu & D. B.
Brinkman - 1993.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Eusuchia?
Species: G. palatinus
(type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Uncertain, but skull is estimated to have
been around 15 centimetres long when complete.
Known locations: Canada, Alberta - Milk River
Formation.
Time period: Santonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains of the
posterior (rear) portion of the skull and a cervical (neck)
vertebra.
Living
in the
late Cretaceous, Gilchristosuchus was a crocodile
that in
evolutionary terms may have come close to modern crocodiles, yet
may not have actually been one of them. The size of Gilchristosuchus
is still unknown but the one partial skull known shows signs of
fusing, indicating that it was an adult specimen. With the skull
estimated at fifteen centimetres, Gilchristosuchus
would have only
have been a very small croc. Although so far only a single vertebra
and partial skull have been assigned to Gilchristosuchus,
some
fossils assigned to the genera Brachychampsa and Leidyosuchus
are
believed to possibly belong to Gilchristosuchus.
The
holotype specimen of
Gilchristosuchus was discovered in the Milk
River Formation of
Alberta, Canada. With this in mind, Gilchristosuchus
would have
likely shared its habitat with dinosaurs such as early
pachycephalosaurs
like Acrotholus,
as well as small predatory
dinosaurs like Saurornitholestes
and Richardoestesia,
which may have
actually been a threat to little crocs like Gilchristosuchus.
Further reading
- A new crocodylomorph of "mesosuchian" grade from the Upper
Cretaceous upper Milk River Formation, southern Alberta, X. C.
Wu & D. B. Brinkman - 1993.
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