''Ceratosuchops'' (meaning "horned crocodile face") is a genus of

spinosaurid The Spinosauridae (or spinosaurids) are a clade or family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. They came into prominence during the Cretaceous period. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, includi ...

from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

( Barremian) of Britain.

Discovery and naming

In 2021, the type species ''C. inferodios'' was named and described by a team of paleontologists including Chris Barker, Darren Naish, David Hone and others. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

means "hell heron", in reference to the ecology presumed by the research team. The holotype remains of this taxon consist of IWCMS 2014.95.5 (premaxillary bodies), IWCMS 2021.30 (a posterior premaxilla fragment) and IWCMS 2014.95.1-3 (a nearly complete braincase), all of which were recovered from rocks in

Chilton Chine The Chilton Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Brighstone. It is a small coastal gully, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream ero ...

of the Wessex Formation and stored at Dinosaur Isle museum. Referred remains include a single right postorbital (IWCMS 2014.95.4).

Description

''Ceratosuchops'' is estimated to measure 8.5 m (27 ft) in length based on the skeletal reconstruction in the describing paper by Dan Folkes, 2021.

Phylogeny

The authors recovered ''Ceratosuchops'' as a member of the newly erected clade, Ceratosuchopsini, closely related to ''

Suchomimus ''Suchomimus'' (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous period. It was named and ...

'' and the coeval ''

Riparovenator ''Riparovenator'' ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain, the type species is ''Riparovenator milnerae''. Discovery and naming Between 2013 and 2017, spin ...

''.

Paleoenvironment

''Ceratosuchops'' lived in a dry mediterranean habitat in the Wessex Formation, where rivers were home to riparian zones. Like most spinosaurs, it would have fed on available small to medium-sized aquatic and terrestrial prey in these areas.

References

Spinosaurids Monotypic dinosaur genera Barremian life Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe Cretaceous England Fossils of England Fossil taxa described in 2021 {{Taxonbar, from=Q108742018 Taxa named by Darren Naish