Borealosuchus | |
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Skeleton cast at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Clade: | Eusuchia |
Genus: | †Borealosuchus Brochu, 1997 |
Species | |
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Borealosuchus (meaning "northern crocodile") is an extinct genus of crocodyliforms that lived from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene in North America. It was named by Christopher Brochu in 1997 for several species that had been assigned to Leidyosuchus. The species assigned to it are: B. sternbergii, the type species, from the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming; B. acutidentatus, from the Paleocene of Saskatchewan; B. formidabilis, from the Paleocene of North Dakota;[2] B. griffithi, from the Paleocene of Alberta;[3] and B. wilsoni, from the Eocene of Wyoming.[2] B. formidabilis is particularly well-known, represented by the remains of many individuals from the Wannagan Creek site in North Dakota.[4] An indeterminate species is known from the Late Cretaceous Demopolis Chalk in Alabama.[5]
Borealosuchus was a mid-sized crocodyliform, with B. wilsoni measuring approximately 3.2–4.5 metres (10–15 ft) long.[6]