Lazarussuchus
Name:
Lazarussuchus
(Lazarus's crocodile).
Phonetic: Lah-zah-rus-soo-kus.
Named By: M. K. Hecht - 1992.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Diapsida,
Choristodera.
Species: L. inexpectatus
(type), L. dvoraki.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Roughly about thirty-six centimetres long.
Known locations: Czech Republic, France and
Germany.
Time period: From the late Paleocene through to the
early Miocene.
Fossil representation: A few individuals,
including one preserved complete.
Lazarussuchus
was named after the figure of Lazarus of Bethany in the Bible, a
person in the Gospel of John who was resurrected four days after his
death by Jesus Christ. The relevance here is that the holotype
remains of Lazarussuchus were found from a late
Oligocene deposit, a
period many millions of years after the disappearance of other
choristoderans. Since this time other choristoderan fossils have been
found that fill this gap.
Choristoderans
like Lazarussuchus were similar to crocodiles in
their
appearance, however they were not actually directly related to them.
The physical similarity to crocodiles however would suggest that
Lazarussuchus and its relatives fulfilled a similar
ecological niche of
a semi-aquatic predators.
One of the more famous choristoderans known to science is Champsosaurus.
Further reading
- A new choristodere (Reptilia, Diapsida) from the Oligocene of
France: an example of the Lazarus effect - Geobios 25:
115–131 - M. K. Hecht - 1992.
- A history of an extinct reptilian clade, the Choristodera:
longevity, Lazarus-Taxa, and the fossil record - Evolutionary
Biology 27: 323–338 - S. E. Evans & M. K.
Hecht - 1993.
- A choristoderan reptile (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Lower
Miocene of northwest Bohemia (Czech Republic) - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 25 (1): 171–184 - Susan E.
Evans & Jozef Klembara - 2005.
- New material of the choristodere Lazarussuchus
(Diapsida,
Choristodera) from the Paleocene of France - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 33 (2): 319 - R. Matsumoto, E.
Buffetaut, F. Escuillie, S. hervet & S. E.
Evans - 2013.
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