Allognathosuchus
genus of large reptiles (fossil)
Allognathosuchus (meaning "other jaw crocodile") is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian with a complicated taxonomic history. It was named in 1921.
Description
Allognathosuchus was a medium-sized predator up to 1.5 m in length. This alligatorine is known for its stout jaws and bulbous teeth, found near the rear of the tooth row in upper and lower jaws. These adaptations have historically been interpreted as having been for crushing mollusks. Isolated bulbous teeth are often assigned to this genus, although such teeth are known from other crocodyliform lineages.
Taxonomy
The type species, A. polyodon, is from the Eocene-age Bridger Formation of Wyoming; it is based on fossils that are difficult to distinguish from other Paleogene alligatorids. A. heterodon is from the Eocene-age Wasatch Formation of Wyoming, A. wartheni is from the Eocene-age Wildwood Formation (also known as the "Wildwood alligatorid" and possibly two species), and A. woutersi, which may belong to Diplocynodon, instead, is from the Early Eocene of Belgium. A. polyodon, A. heterodon, and A. wartheni span the Clarkforkian, Wasatchian, and Bridgerian North American Land Mammal Ages.
Several other genera and species were previously assigned to Allognathosuchus, giving it a potential Upper Cretaceous-Oligocene stratigraphic range, and a geographic range covering North America, Europe, and Africa.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Allognathosuchus” is genus of large reptiles (fossil). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Allognathosuchus, genus and large, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Allognathosuchus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.