Aristosuchus
From Ancient Greek aristos (ἄριστος) meaning 'bravest, best, noblest' + Soukhos (σοῦχος), the Ancient Greek form of the name of the Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek; overall meaning 'best/noblest Sobek'.
Early Cretaceous stages
Aristosuchus is a genus of small coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period (Barremian stage, sometime between 130 and 123 million years ago) of what is now England, UK. The type and only species is Aristosuchus pusillus, originally referred to the carnosaurian genus Poekilopleuron.
Diagnosis
- Sacrum of five vertebrae in which each centrum supports its own neural arch (neural foramen not shifted to overlap adjacent centrum, unlike Megalosaurus)
- Sacral transverse processes arise from individual vertebrae, not at the junction between centra
- Sacral centra strongly constricted from side to side, with transverse midpoint measurement only 7-8 mm despite 2.2 cm wide articular faces
- Pubes rod-like and anteriorly directed, converging distally and uniting with a horizontal posterior keel — a Coelurus/Allosaurus-type pubis not previously recorded from Britain
- Metapophyses (accessory lateral neural spines) developed on third and fourth sacral vertebrae, indicated as ridges on second and fifth
Species
Aristosuchus pusillus Seeley, 1887
Type species
From Latin for 'very small', referring to the diminutive size of the animal.
- Holotype
- BMNH R178 , Natural History Museum
- Material
- Several postcranial elements
- Horizon
- Wessex Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
- Locality
- Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
References
- Seeley, H. G. (1887). On Aristosuchus pusillus (Owen), being Further Notes on the Fossils described by Sir R. Owen as Poikilopleuron pusillus, Owen. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 43(1-4): 221-228. Geological Society of London. doi:10.1144/gsl.jgs.1887.043.01-04.22 seeley1887a