Open Paleo

Suchosaurus

Owen, 1842 SOO-ko-SAWR-us Nomen dubium

From Greek 'souchos' (crocodile, after the Egyptian crocodile-god Sobek) and 'sauros' (lizard); meaning 'crocodile lizard'.

137.1–132.6 million years ago Valanginian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Suchosaurus is a dubious genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Europe. The type species, S. cultridens, was first mentioned by Richard Owen at the British Association meeting in 1841 and formally described in Owen's 1842 Report on British Fossil Reptiles, based on a chimeric assemblage of fossil teeth and vertebrae discovered in the Tilgate Forest of Sussex, England, in sediments of the Wealden Supergroup.

Under dispute

Suchosaurus cultridens and S. girardi are based on isolated teeth reidentified as spinosaurid; Carrano and colleagues (2012) refer the material to Baryonychinae but regard it as a nomen dubium, and Mateus and colleagues (2011) likewise treat both species as nomina dubia, with Suchosaurus a possible senior synonym of Baryonyx.

Species

Suchosaurus cultridens Owen, 1842 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Latin 'culter' (knife) and 'dens' (tooth); meaning 'knife-toothed'.

Holotype
NHMUK PV R 36536 , Natural History Museum
Material
A single tooth; laterally compressed crown with two trenchant edges and longitudinal parallel ridges.
Horizon
Grinstead Clay Formation, Valanginian, Early Cretaceous , 137.1–132.6 million years ago
Locality
Tilgate Forest, near Cuckfield, West Sussex, United Kingdom

Synonyms

  • Crocodilus cultridens reassigned

    Prior combination of the species cultridens under Crocodilus; Owen (1842) erected Suchosaurus as a distinct sub-genus to hold it.

References

  1. Owen, R. (1842). Report on British fossil reptiles, Part II. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 11: 60-204.

    Original sub-genus erection by Owen, interpreting the material as crocodilian; spinosaurid affinity was not recognized until Milner (2003).

    owen1842a
  2. Mateus, O.; Araújo, R.; Natário, C.; Castanhinha, R. (2011). A new specimen of the theropod dinosaur Baryonyx from the early Cretaceous of Portugal and taxonomic validity of Suchosaurus. Zootaxa 2827: 54-68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2827.1.3

    Declares Suchosaurus cultridens a nomen dubium — NHMUK PV R 36536 lacks autapomorphies distinguishing it from other baryonychines and rejects Milner's (2003) Baryonyx senior-synonymy proposal.

    mateus2011b
  3. Carrano, M. T.; Benson, R. B. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2012). The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211-300. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927

    Referred Suchosaurus material to Baryonychinae but regarded it as a nomen dubium.

    carrano2012a
  4. Barker, C. T.; Hone, D. W. E.; Naish, D.; Cau, A.; Lockwood, J. A. F.; Foster, B.; Clarkin, C. E.; Schneider, P.; Gostling, N. J. (2021). New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae. Scientific Reports 11(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97870-8

    Assigns the holotype tooth to the Grinstead Clay Formation.

    barker2021a
  5. Milner, A. C. (2003). Fish-eating theropods: a short review of the systematics, biology and palaeobiogeography of spinosaurs. Actas de las II Jornadas Internacionales sobre Paleontología de Dinosaurios y su Entorno 129-138. milner2003a
  6. Barker, C. T.; Naish, D.; Gostling, N. J. (2023). Isolated tooth reveals hidden spinosaurid dinosaur diversity in the British Wealden Supergroup (Lower Cretaceous). PeerJ 11: e15453. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.15453

    Records that the Grinstead Clay, source of the type specimen, is ranked as a formation in some schemes and as a member of the Tunbridge Wells Sand in others.

    barker2023a