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Cretaceous Crocodilia |
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Scutes. Body armour.. Defense from whom? Like their modern relatives, these Cretaceous reptiles had no one to fear but their fellow crocodiles. |
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Crocodilia. 200 million years of a successful vertebrate family. Richard Owen, who coined the word 'Dinosaur' had no difficulty in recognizing the above fossil as crocodilian when found in the same deposits as the first named dinosaur Iguanodon. |
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The teeth of a variety of Crocodile genera.
These reptiles were a major family in the Cretaceous community. Leidyosuchus, Albertochampsa, Brachychampsa and other crocodilia were as dominant in water as the theropod dinosaurs were on land.
Click here for Enlargement |
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Leidyosuchus canadensis. The teeth of this crocodile show various stages of wear. Not slicers but rippers. Who was their lunch? Like modern crocodiles, they probably dined on a variety of animals. |
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These are the molars of crocodilia. These back teeth are a much better indicator of the size of the animal than the cheek teeth. The tooth on the left retains most of the original root. Crocodilia, like most reptiles, shed teeth throughout life and therefore their jaws contain teeth of different sizes in various stages of growth. |
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Leidyosuchus canadensis
Vertebra: Illustrated from the original publication by Lawrence Lambe in 1907. This is the most commonly found crocodilian species found in the Late Cretaceous deposits of Alberta. This reptile was named in honour of Charles Leidy who described the first Hadrosaurus in 1875 |
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The above vertebrae shows the strongly Procoelus structure of crocodile vertebrae. The centrum is concave in front and convex behind.This distinguishes crocodilia vertebrae from those of the more commonly found fossils of the non-crocodilian reptile, Champsosaurus |
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Crocodilia conical body armour that provided these reptiles almost invincible protection |
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Crocodilia
Neck Hinge Vertebra (4cm)
Lateral, distal, proximal views |
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Return to the
Cretaceous Room |
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