20488 - Nice 2.69 Inch Dyrosaurus phosphaticus Left Maxillary Fragment

Beautiful left maxillary fragment with 2 sharp teeth.

Dyrosaurus is a genus of extinct crocodylomorph that lived from the upper Cretaceous to the Eocene period, surviving the K-Pg extinction event. Dyrosaurus are linked to pholidosaurids as a clade and are defined as slender-snouted, fish-eating specialists adapted to near-shore marine habitats.

The Dyrosauridae are a group of mostly marine, long jawed, crocodile-like quadrupeds up to 6 metres (20 ft) long. Based on bone tissue evidence, it has been hypothesized that they were slow-growing near-shore marine animals with interlocking closed jaws, able to swim as well as walk on land. External nostrils at the posterior end of its snout and an internal naris in its pterygoid indicated a habit of hunting while swimming with the top of the head above the water, enabling it to breathe while stalking prey.

A review of Dyrosaurus phosphaticus (Thomas, 1893) (Mesoeucrocodylia; Dyrosauridae) from the Lower Eocene of North Africa.

†Dyrosaurus, Pomel 1894 (crocodilian)
Reptilia - Loricata - Dyrosauridae

Parent taxon: Dyrosauridae according to M. Bronzati et al. 2012

See also Andrade et al. 2011, Barbosa et al. 2008, Carroll 1988, Fiorelli and Calvo 2008, Hill et al. 2008, Jouve 2005, Jouve et al. 2008, Jouve et al. 2005, Jouve et al. 2006, Larsson and Sues 2007, Moody and Buffetaut 1981, Nascimento and Zaher 2011, Nopcsa 1928, Pol and Norell 2004, Sepkoski 2002, Sereno et al. 2001, Sereno et al. 2003, Sertich and O'Connor 2014 and Zaher et al. 2006

Sister taxa: Acherontisuchus, Anthracosuchus, Arambourgisuchus, Atlantosuchus, Cerrejonisuchus, Chenanisuchus, Congosaurus, Dyrosaurus minor, Guarinisuchus, Hyposaurinae, Hyposaurus, Oceanosuchus, Phosphatosaurinae, Phosphatosaurus, Rhabdognathus, Sabinosuchus, Sokotosuchus, Tilemsisuchus

Subtaxa: Dyrosaurus maghribensis, Dyrosaurus phosphaticus

Ecology: carnivore

Environments: marine, coastal, paralic, terrestrial 

Age range: 112.6 to 33.9 Ma

Distribution:

• Eocene of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia

• Cretaceous of Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia 

Dyrosaurus phosphaticus : Fossilworks (Paleobiology Database)