Jul 10, 2020
Fossil Friday: Calsoyasuchus
(more…)
View On WordPress
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Brazil
seen from Venezuela
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Indonesia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Sweden
seen from Australia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
Fossil Friday: Calsoyasuchus
(more…)
View On WordPress
Crocodylo-Month, Day 10: Calsoyasuchus
During the Early Jurassic, crocodilians began to take on recognizably modern roles. The earliest known crocodylomorph that lived as a semi-aquatic ambush predator is Calsoyasuchus, which lived 197 million years ago in Arizona.
Calsoyasuchus was not a direct ancestor of modern crocodilians. It belonged to the family Goniopholididae, which branched off from other types of crocodylomorphs in the Early Jurassic, and which went extinct after the Late Cretaceous. In addition, they possessed a number of more primitive characteristics reminiscent of their terrestrial ancestors, such as long forelimbs and forward-facing eyes.
I couldn’t find any images of Calsoyasuchus, so I used an image of a closely related crocodylomorph, Goniopholis. Image by Nobu Tamura.