Kaprosuchus Research Paper

1504 Words7 Pages

Three dinosaurs with facts and why they went extinct

1: Kaprosuchus aprosuchus is an extinct genus of mahajangasuchid crocodyliform. It is known from a single nearly complete skull collected from the Upper Cretaceous Echkar Formation of Niger. The name means "boar crocodile" from the Greek κάπρος, kapros ("boar") and σοῦχος, souchos ("crocodile") in reference to its unusually large caniniform teeth which resemble those of a boar.
Kaprosuchus is known from a nearly complete skull 507 mm in length in which the lower jaw measured 603 mm long, whilst the entire animal is originally estimated to have been around 6 metres (20 ft) in length,[1][3] but later comparisons to similar crocodiles suggest a total estimated body length approximately 3.3 metres (11 ft).[4] It possesses three sets of tusk-like caniniform teeth that project above and below the skull, one of which in …show more content…

It is thought to have dwelt in diverse zones of inshore waters. Fossilization tends to have preserved only the especially armoured frontal sections of specimens, thus it is uncertain what exactly the hind sections of this ancient fish were like.[7] Therefore, the reconstructions of the hindquarters are often based on smaller arthrodires, such as Coccosteus, that had hind sections preserved. The most famous specimens of Dunkleosteus are displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Others are displayed at the American Museum of Natural History and in the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Queensland. Instead of teeth, Dunkleosteus possessed two pairs of sharp bony plates which formed a beak-like structure. Dunkleosteus, together with most other placoderms, may have also been among the first vertebrates to internalize egg fertilization, as seen in some modern