Post by Godzillasaurus on Oct 29, 2013 18:16:42 GMT -5
Deinosuchus has been a very difficult animal to work with in paleontology. We have a few different skull reconstructions. One of them has a much more similar jaw and tooth structure to those of crocodylids:
Deinosuchus was an alligatorid, which means that it was more closely related to the American Alligator than the Nile Crocodile or the Indian Gharial. Modern alligatorids are rather versatile in their characteristics. Alligatorines have blunted and round snouts (that are U-shaped) and bulbous and blunt teeth designed for crushing. Caimanines, on the other hand, have snouts that are slightly more pointed (with the exception of the broad-snouted caiman) and teeth that are longer and sharper than alligatorines. These are characteristics more-so closer to those of crocodiles, due to both caimans and crocodiles taking over similar niches and being less specialized for crushing than alligators. The skull shown above was reconstructed from that of the Cuban Crocodile (hence the more crocodile-like shape of it). This was before paleontologists realized that deinosuchus was an alligatorid, not a crocodylid.
It is stated here that they reconstructed it wrong. I must add though that they never clarified whether or not they made a new reconstruction afterwards. If so, this appears to be the more "alligator-like" of the two reconstructions.
Deinosuchus was, first and foremost, characterized by very robustly-structured snout that was very well adapted for crushing and predation on large animals. In addition, its dentition was also very thick and heavily-built, structured much like thick spikes. The teeth present at the for most region of its jaws were pointed, relatively elongated (and relatively stout compared to more piscivorous species), and were designed mostly for puncturing (but would also fare really well in crushing, as they were still very thick and resistant), while the dentition present posterior to that was much more blunt and stout, designed particularly for crushing.
Deinosuchus was an alligatorid, which means that it was more closely related to the American Alligator than the Nile Crocodile or the Indian Gharial. Modern alligatorids are rather versatile in their characteristics. Alligatorines have blunted and round snouts (that are U-shaped) and bulbous and blunt teeth designed for crushing. Caimanines, on the other hand, have snouts that are slightly more pointed (with the exception of the broad-snouted caiman) and teeth that are longer and sharper than alligatorines. These are characteristics more-so closer to those of crocodiles, due to both caimans and crocodiles taking over similar niches and being less specialized for crushing than alligators. The skull shown above was reconstructed from that of the Cuban Crocodile (hence the more crocodile-like shape of it). This was before paleontologists realized that deinosuchus was an alligatorid, not a crocodylid.
It is stated here that they reconstructed it wrong. I must add though that they never clarified whether or not they made a new reconstruction afterwards. If so, this appears to be the more "alligator-like" of the two reconstructions.
Deinosuchus was, first and foremost, characterized by very robustly-structured snout that was very well adapted for crushing and predation on large animals. In addition, its dentition was also very thick and heavily-built, structured much like thick spikes. The teeth present at the for most region of its jaws were pointed, relatively elongated (and relatively stout compared to more piscivorous species), and were designed mostly for puncturing (but would also fare really well in crushing, as they were still very thick and resistant), while the dentition present posterior to that was much more blunt and stout, designed particularly for crushing.
