#prestosuchids

The largest carnivorous archosaur of late Triassic central Europe, Smok wawelski may be a rauisuchid (large predatory Triassic archosaur), prestosuchid (active terrestrial Triassic apex predator), ornithosuchid pseudosuchian (distant relative of crocodilians), or a primitive theropod dinosaur. However, its relation to other archosaurs has not been thoroughly studied, so its status as dinosaur, crocodile, or other remains a mystery.

Smok is an archosaur of indeterminate classification.  Since it might not actually be a member of Suchia, I didn’t want to include it in Crocodylo-Month proper, but since @the-british-kiwi suggested it to me, I decided to make it a bonus day.

(This skeletal reconstruction of Smok, by Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Tomasz Sulej, and Jerzy Dzik, shows the known bones in white.)

As I said above, Smok’s classification is uncertain.  It might have been a rauisuchid like Teratosaurus, a prestosuchid like Saurosuchus, a more primitive archosauromorph, or a theropod dinosaur.  It shares anatomical features with all of these groups, making it difficult to definitively place anywhere on the archosaur evolutionary tree.

(A reconstruction of Smok as a crocodile relative, with speculative osteoderms.  Image by karkemish00.)

Smok lived in the Late Triassic of Poland, from 205 to 200 million years ago.  Its genus name means “dragon” in Polish, and its binomial nomenclature, Smok wawelski, is a reference to the mythical Dragon of Wawel Hill.

At about 20 feet long, Smok was the largest predator of its time and place, and was one of the largest carnivores in the world during the Late Triassic.  Its main competition would probably have been Polonosuchus, a rauisuchid that was almost as long (although nowhere near as tall).

We’re moving away from the poposauroids for a while, in order to talk about Loricata.  Loricata contains three families: Crocodylomorpha, which contains living crocodilians and their extinct relatives; and the completely extinct Rauisuchidae and Prestosuchidae.  Today’s entry in Crocodylo-Month is a prestosuchid.

(Image by Nobu Tamura.)

Saurosuchus lived in Argentina, about 231 million years ago.  It was fairly typical of the prestosuchids; it was a very large animal, twenty to thirty feet in length, with a somewhat dinosaurian erect limb posture that made it a very efficient terrestrial predator - likely the apex predator of its native ecosystem.

As one of the largest prestosuchids, Saurosuchus was probably a massively powerful carnivore - truly the Tyrannosaurus of its day.  In fact, here’s something I’ve never seen pointed out about this animal...

Doesn’t Saurosuchus’s skull look a whole lot like a tyrannosaur’s?  The physical similarities make me wonder if Saurosuchus hunted and killed its prey in a similar way to Tyrannosaurus, using its powerful bite force to crush the bones of its prey.  It’s known to have had a strong neck, so it probably dismembered its prey by shaking its head while the prey was clamped in its jaws, like Tyrannosaurus (or a modern crocodile).  Convergent evolution at its finest!