Shantungosuchus
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Shantungosuchus Temporal range: 129–110 Ma Early Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Mesoeucrocodylia |
| Genus: | †Shantungosuchus |
| Species | |
Shantungosuchus is an extinct genus of Early Cretaceous crocodyliform found in China. It includes three species: Shantungosuchus chuhsienensis and S. brachycephalus, which were both described by Yang Zhongjian – usually referred to as "Young" – in 1961 and 1982, and S. hangjinensis, which was described by Xiao-Chun Wu et al in 1994. S. chuhsienensis is the type for this genus.
The primary part of Shantungosuchus' name comes from Shan-tung, the Wade-Giles romanization of Shandong (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Shāndōng; Wade–Giles: Shan1tung1), a province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China, where it was first discovered. The second part, suchus is a Latin word meaning "crocodile".
S. chuhsienenis was first described from an articulated skeleton that was preserved as an impression of its ventral surface. Its small size, slender body, and triangular skull made it distinct from other atoposaurids.
Shantungosuchus belongs to Protosuchia, a group of early crocodilian relatives that were all rather small in size, about 1 meter in length, and terrestrial rather than aquatic. They are most easily distinguished from other crocodylians by their short premaxilla and maxillas, a transversely broad shelf on the jugal bone, and a pair of posterolaterally divergent ridges on the pterygoid, and two large depressions on the sphenoid bone. The angular shape of the rest of the skull is absent from the posterolateral section of the jaw. The dentaries near the symphysis are superficially asymmetrical. All known forms of Shantungosuchus also have a square-shaped fossa on the jugal, and a leaf-shaped palatine bone.
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