Gryposuchus
Name:
Gryposuchus
Phonetic: Grip-oh-soo-kus.
Named By: Gurich - 1912.
Synonyms: Ramphostoma neogaeus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Crocodylia, Gavialidae, Gryposuchinae.
Species: G. neogaeus (type),
G.
colombianus, G. croizati, G. jessei, G. pachakamue.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated at up to 10 meters long.
Known locations: South America including,
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
Time period: Early to mid Miocene.
Fossil representation: Many specimens of skull
material and teeth.
Gryposuchus
was initially known as Ramphostoma neogaues until
the addition of the
second species in 1912 when it was realised that Ramphostoma
was
already used and actually a synonym for a genus of blind snakes called
Leptotyphlops. Although a synonym, Ramphostoma
could not be applied
as it was first used in 1860 and the first Gryposuchus
fossil not
described until twenty-five years later in 1885.
In
life Gryposuchus would have resembled a ten meter
long gharial, a
crocodile
that has a particularly long and narrow snout. Gharials
are known to eat almost entirely fish when full grown and it is
possibly that Gryposuchus hunted in a similar way
for particularly
large fish species. Gryposuchus also seems to
have been active in
both coastal and freshwater locations, further increasing its ability
to find prey, perhaps also including marine mammals into their diet.
Gryposuchus
lived in South America during a time that may have seen it living in
the same waterways as two other giant crocodiles called Purussaurus
and
Mourasuchus
that were actually a little larger than Gryposuchus
itself. However Gryposuchus may not have directly
competed with
either of these two as Purussaurus seems to have
been a more generalist
predator of large animals, while Mourasuchus
seems to have been a
filter feeder consuming mouthfuls of small prey.
A
giant crocodile that may have been similar to Gryposuchus
is called
Rhamphosuchus.
While this crocodile also lived during the Miocene
period, it actually lived on the other side of the world on the
Indian subcontinent.
| Name | Time/Location | Size (meters) |
| Deinosuchus (alligator-like crocodile). | Cretaceous/USA. | 10-12 |
| Gryposuchus (gharial-like crocodile). | Miocene/S. America. | 10 |
| Mourasuchus (alligator-like crocodile). | Miocene/Peru. | 12 |
| Purussaurus (caiman-like crocodile). | Miocene/S. America. | 11-13 |
| Rhamphosuchus (gharial-like crocodile). | Miocene/India. | 8-11 |
| Sarcosuchus (crocodile). | Cretaceous/Africa. | 9-9.5 |
| Stomatosuchus (crocodile). | Cretaceous/Egypt. | 10 |
| 3 of todays largest living crocs below | ||
| Alligator mississippiensis (American alligator). | Present/S. E. USA. | 3.4 average - up to almost 6. |
| Crocodylus niloticus (Nile crocodile). | Present/Africa. | Average up to 5, largest up to 6.45. |
| Crocodylus porosus (Salt water crocodile). | Present/India, S. E. Asia, N. Australia. | Average 4-5.5, largest recorded 6-6.6, possibly slightly bigger. |
Further reading
- Gryposuchus jessei, ein neus schmalschnauziges
Krokodil aus den
jüngeren Ablagerungen des oberen Amazonas-Gebietes. - Mitteilugen des
Mineralogisch, Geologischen Instituts Hamburg 4:59-71. - G. Gürich -
1912.
- Fossil crocodilians from Colombia and the Cenozoic history of the
Crocodilia in South America. - University of California Publications in
Geological Sciences 52:1-169. - W. Langston Jr - 1965.
- Crocodilians, Gryposuchus and the South American
gavials by W.
Langston and Z. Gasparini. - In Vertebrate Paleontology in the
Neotropics - R. F. Kay, R. H. Madden, R. L. Cifelli, J. J. Flynn
(eds.). - 1997.
- The world's largest gharials Gryposuchus:
description of G. croizati
n. sp. (Crocodylia, Gavialidae) from the Upper Miocene Urumaco
Formation, Venezuela. - Paläontologische Zeitschrift 82(2):178-195. -
D. Riff & O. A. Aguilera - 2008.
- A New 13 Million Year Old Gavialoid Crocodylian from Proto-Amazonian
Mega-Wetlands Reveals Parallel Evolutionary Trends in Skull Shape
Linked to Longirostry. - PLoS ONE. 11 (4). - Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi,
John J. Flynn, Patrice baby, Julia V. Tejada-Lara, Julien Claude
& Pierre-Olivier Antoine - 2016.
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