Shamosuchus

Taxobox
name = "Shamosuchus"
fossil_range = Fossil range|85|65 Santonian-Maastrichtian
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
unranked_ordo = Mesoeucrocodylia
unranked_subordo = Neosuchia
familia = Paralligatoridae
genus = "Shamosuchus"
genus_authority = (Mook, 1924)
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "S. ancestralis" Konzhukova, 1954 Paralligator ancestralis Konzhukova, 1954
* "S. borealis" (Efimov, 1975)
* "S. occidentalis" Efimov, 1982
* "S. djochtaensis" Mook, 1924
* "S. gradilifrons" (Konzhukova, 1954)
* "S. karakalpakensis" Nesov et al., 1989
* "S. major" (Efimov, 1981)
* "S. tersus" Efimov, 1983
* "S. ulanicus" Efimov, 1983
* "S. ulgicus" (Efimov, 1981)"

"Shamosuchus" is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodile that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian) period in what is now the Gobi desert of Mongolia, approximately 85 to 65 million years ago. The teeth were adapted to crush bivalves, gastropods and other animals with a shell or exoskeleton Fact|date=February 2007.

Most of the information on this genus comes from the type species, including a well preserved skull. The eye and nasal openings were not raised above the skull as in modern crocodilians, so that the animal would have to raise its head completely out of the water to breathe Fact|date=February 2007. As this cranial morphology does not suit an ambush predator, it lends support to the idea of a diet of aquatic invertebrates.

External links

* [http://www.gondwanastudios.com/info/sha.htm Shamosuchus, Gondwana Studios]
* [http://www.geocities.com/arturcretaceo/crerepteis.html CRETÁCEO répteis e anfíbios]
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Archosauria/Crocodylia/Paralligatoridae.htm Paralligatoridae]
* [http://paginas.terra.com.br/arte/paginahistorica/crocodilo.htm Répteis Crocodilianos]
* [http://www.angellis.net/Web/DFG-rep/Shamosuchus.htm Shamosuchus drawing]
* [http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jul/msg01048.html Forum on ancient species K-T crocodylians]