Desmatosuchus
Name:
Desmatosuchus
(Link crocodile).
Phonetic: Dez-mat-oh-soo-kus.
Named By: Case - 1920.
Synonyms: Desmatosuchus chamaensis,
Episcoposaurus haplocerus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Aetosauria,
Stagonolepididae, Desmatosuchinae.
Species: D. spurensis (type),
D.
haplocerus, D. smalli.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: About 4.5 to 5 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Texas.
Time period: Late Triassic.
Fossil representation: Numerous specimens.
Desmatosuchus
is one of the better known aetosaurs
that were squat quadrupedal
archosaurs that fed upon low growing vegetation. This diet is
suggested by the presence of peg like teeth that were best suited for
stripping off fronds of fern-like vegetation. Not only is
Desmatosuchus one of the better known of its group
but at up to five
meters long it was one of the largest.
The
key area that Desmatosuchus is perhaps most famous
for is the armour
along its back. All aetosaurs had bony armour down the length of
their backs to provide some protection from predators that could rear
up and attack them from above, but Desmatosuchus
took this protection
even further with the addition of two forty-five centimetre spikes that
projected sideways from above its shoulders. Other albeit smaller
spikes also ran down either side of its body.
The
spikes that ran down the upper flanks of Desmatosuchus
certainly would
have made attacks from predators more difficult, but how much
protection the larger spikes gave remains uncertain. They would have
made shoulder area attacks more difficult, but the head was still
relatively unprotected, and if they were just for defence it would
make sense that similarly sized spikes would run further up and down
the body. The enlargement of the shoulder spikes may therefore be
more for the purpose of display, not only to allow Desmatosuchus
to
identify others of its kind from similarly proportioned aetosaurs,
but also a sign of maturity like deer antlers.
Further reading
- Cranial anatomy of
Desmatosuchus haplocerus (Reptilia: Archosauria: Stagonolepididae). -
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 136 (1): 97–111. - Bryan J.
Small - 2002.
- A new species of the Late Triassic aetosaur Desmatosuchus
(Archosauria:Pseudosuchia). - Compte Rendus Palevol 4(4): 327-340. - W.
G. Parker - 2005.
- Reassessment of the aetosaur “Desmatosuchus” chamaensis
with a
reanalysis of the phylogeny of the Aetosauria (Archosauria:
Pseudosuchia). - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5(1): 41-68. - W.
G. Parker - 2007.
- Description of new material of the aetosaur Desmatosuchus
spurensis
(Archosauria: Suchia) from the Chinle Formation of Arizona and a
revision of the genus Desmatosuchus. - PaleoBios
28(1): 1-40. - W. G.
Parker - 2009.
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