Postosuchus

Postosuchus
Temporal range: Late Triassic (Norian)
Skeleton at the Museum of Texas Tech University, near Post, Texas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Family: †Rauisuchidae
Genus: †Postosuchus
Chatterjee, 1985
Type species
†Postosuchus kirkpatricki
Chatterjee, 1985
Species
  • †P. kirkpatricki Chatterjee, 1985
  • †P. alisonae Peyer et al., 2008

Postosuchus, meaning "Crocodile from Post", is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, P. kirkpatricki and P. alisonae, that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. Postosuchus is a member of the clade Pseudosuchia, the lineage of archosaurs that includes modern crocodilians (the other main group of archosaurs is Avemetatarsalia, the lineage that includes all archosaurs more closely related to birds than to crocodilians). Its name refers to Post Quarry, a place in Texas where many fossils of the type species, P. kirkpatricki, were found. It was one of the apex predators of its area during the Triassic, larger than the small dinosaur predators of its time (such as Coelophysis). It was a hunter which probably preyed on large bulky herbivores like dicynodonts and many other creatures smaller than itself (such as early dinosaurs).[1]

The skeleton of Postosuchus is large and robust with a deep skull and a long tail. It was a large animal up to 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long or even more.[2][3] The extreme shortness of the forelimbs relative to the hind limbs, the very small hands, and measurements of the vertebrae suggest that Postosuchus may have been committed to bipedal locomotion.[3]

  1. ^ Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence. DK publishing. 2001. ISBN 9780789471673.
  2. ^ Gaines, Richard M. (2001). Coelophysis. ABDO Publishing Company. p. 20. ISBN 1-57765-488-9.
  3. ^ a b Weinbaum, J. C. (2013). "Postcranial skeleton of Postosuchus kirkpatricki (Archosauria: Paracrocodylomorpha), from the upper Triassic of the United States". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 379 (1): 525–553. Bibcode:2013GSLSP.379..525W. doi:10.1144/SP379.7. S2CID 129092753.