#gnatusuchus

[arminreindl]

Here's a fun fact, during the early to middle Miocene the north of South America was covered by an enormous wetland system sometimes known as the Pebas Megawetlands, which was home to one of the single most-diverse collection of crocodilians in history.

Among them were a "small" species of Purussaurus that preyed on ground sloths, South American gharials, three different types of small caimans that fed on clams, a relative of todays dwarf caimans and the weird, surf-board headed Mourasuchus, all of which were recovered from a single locality.

If you wanna see more of this I highly recommend you check out @knuppitalism-with-ue stream tomorrow night, 23:00 CEST on Twitch.

[dinosaur-discourse]

Crocodylo-Month, Day 29: Gnatusuchus

Gnatusuchus was yet another Miocene caiman from the Amazon Rainforest.  However, it was nowhere near as large as Purussaurus or Mourasuchus.  In fact, it was quite small - only about five feet in length.

(Sculptural reconstruction of the head of Gnatusuchus, by Kevin Montalbán-Rivera.)

Gnatusuchus was distinguished by its blunt, shovel-like snout, as well as its strange teeth - thick, blunt, and peg-like.  These are believed to have been adaptations for feeding on clams.  Gnatusuchus likely dug in the mud of river and lake bottoms for clams by using its snout and lower jaw, then crushed the shells of the prey it unearthed with its rounded teeth.