Temporal range: Early Cretaceous (Barremian to Albian), 125–112 Ma
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Reconstructed skeleton at the Chicago Children's Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
Theropoda
Family:
†Spinosauridae
Clade:
†Ceratosuchopsini
Genus:
†Suchomimus Sereno et al., 1998
Type species
†Suchomimus tenerensis
Sereno et al., 1998
Synonyms
Baryonyx tenerensis (Sereno et al., 1998) Sues et al., 2002 [originally Suchomimus]
Suchomimus (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaur dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, north Africa, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous period. It was named and described by paleontologist Paul Sereno and colleagues in 1998, based on a partial skeleton from the Elrhaz Formation. Suchomimus's long and shallow skull, similar to that of a crocodile, earns it its generic name, while the specific name Suchomimus tenerensis alludes to the locality of its first remains, the Ténéré Dese.
Suchomimus was a relatively large theropod, reaching 9.5–11 metres (31–36 ft) in length and weighing 2.5–3.8 metric tons (2.8–4.2 short tons). However, the age of the holotype specimen is uncertain, so it is unclear whether this size estimate would have been its maximum. The narrow head of Suchomimus was perched on a short neck, and its forelimbs were powerfully built, bearing a giant claw on each thumb. Along the midline of the animal's back ran a low dorsal sail, built from the long neural spines of its vertebrae. Like other spinosaurids, it likely had a diet of fish, eels, rays and smaller prey animals.
Some palaeontologists consider the genus to be an African species of the European spinosaurid Baryonyx, B. tenerensis. Suchomimus might also be a junior synonym of the contemporaneous spinosaurid Cristatusaurus lapparenti, although the latter taxon is based on much more fragmentary remains. Suchomimus lived in a fluvial environment of vast floodplains alongside many other dinosaurs, in addition to pterosaurs, crocodylomorphs, bony fishes, testudines, and bivalves.
Jeffrey Wilson named and described the type species Suchomimus tenerensis. The generic name Suchomimus ("crocodile mimic") is derived from the Ancient Greek...
Suchomimus tenerensis was similar enough to Baryonyx walkeri to be considered a species within the same genus (as B. tenerensis), and that Suchomimus...
positioned similarly to those of Baryonyx and Suchomimus, and were between those of Spinosaurus and Suchomimus in size. Spinosaurids had long secondary palates...
indistinguishable from both Suchomimus and Baryonyx. Some distinctions between the fossils of Cristatusaurus and Suchomimus have been pointed out, but...
next year, Sereno et al. described the specimen as the new baryonychine Suchomimus tenerensis. The species was also the subject of synonymy disputes over...
carcharodontosaurid similar to Acrocanthosaurus and a dentary from Baryonyx or Suchomimus. The analysis was rejected in at least one subsequent paper. NMC 50791...
triangle-shaped pit at their front end. Similar processes are present in Suchomimus, Cristatusaurus, and MNHN SAM 124, although not as exposed. These structures...
likely Vallibonavenatrix. Although age estimates for Ichthyovenator and Suchomimus are imprecise, Riojavenatrix lived around the same time as them. Riojavenatrix...
to the coeval Riparovenator. They are, in turn, in a clade containing Suchomimus, which they name Ceratosuchopsini. In 2023, Sereno and colleagues tentatively...
bottom surfaces, traits that were shared with the spinosaurids Baryonyx, Suchomimus, Sigilmassasaurus, and Vallibonavenatrix. The cervical neural spines of...
Irritator's nostrils were both proportionately and absolutely smaller than in Suchomimus and Baryonyx, but larger than those of Spinosaurus. The opening behind...
to the coeval Riparovenator. They are, in turn, in a clade containing Suchomimus, which they name Ceratosuchopsini. In 2023, Sereno and colleagues tentatively...
primarily from the northern part of the continent, particularly Niger. Suchomimus, Elrhazosaurus, Rebbachisaurus, Nigersaurus, Kryptops, Nqwebasaurus, and...
Kevin O'Neill. The film's plot revolves around a genetically engineered Suchomimus terrorizing the lake-side residents of a small town. The film stars Matthew...
dinosaurs that lived with Eocarcharia include theropods Kryptops palaios and Suchomimus tenerensis, sauropod Nigersaurus taqueti, and ornithopods Ouranosaurus...
and large ornithopods. It also lived alongside the theropods Kryptops, Suchomimus, and Eocarcharia, and a yet-unnamed noasaurid. Crocodylomorphs like Sarcosuchus...
currently unnamed sauropod while the theropod fauna included the spinosaurid Suchomimus, the carcharodontosaurid Eocarcharia and the abelisaurid Kryptops. Meanwhile...
Orlan-10 UAVs". Bulgarian Military. 14 August 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2023. Suchomimus's channel on YouTube: Alvis Stormer Intercepts a Shahed Drone on YouTube...
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