Ceratosuchops Inferodios
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''Ceratosuchops'' (meaning "horned crocodile face") is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
spinosaurid Spinosauridae (or spinosaurids) is a clade or Family (taxonomy), family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, including Africa, Europe, South America, and Asia. ...
from the
Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...
(
Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...
) of
Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
.


Discovery and naming

The
holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
remains of this taxon consist of IWCMS 2014.95.5 (
premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals h ...
ry bodies), IWCMS 2021.30 (a posterior premaxilla fragment), and IWCMS 2014.95.1-3 (a nearly complete braincase). These, in addition to a referred right
postorbital The ''postorbital'' is one of the bones in vertebrate skulls which forms a portion of the dermal skull roof and, sometimes, a ring about the orbit. Generally, it is located behind the postfrontal and posteriorly to the orbital fenestra. In some ve ...
(IWCMS 2014.95.4), were recovered from rocks in Chilton Chine of the
Wessex Formation The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich England, English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian Stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vectis Form ...
. In 2021, ''Ceratosuchops inferodios'' was named and described by a team of paleontologists including Chris Barker,
Darren Naish Darren William Naish (born 26 September 1975) is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator. As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including ...
, 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.


Classification

In their phylogenetic analysis, Barker ''et al.'' (2021) recovered ''Ceratosuchops'' within the
Baryonychinae Baryonychinae is an extinct clade or subfamily of spinosaurids from the Early Cretaceous of Europe and West Africa. The clade was named by Charig & Milner in 1986 and defined by Sereno et al. in 1998 and Holtz et al. in 2004 as all taxa more close ...
, as the
sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
to the coeval ''
Riparovenator ''Riparovenator'' ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of Baryonychinae, baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain. The genus contains a Monotypic taxon, single species, ''Riparovenator milnerae''. Di ...
''. They are, in turn, in a clade containing ''
Suchomimus ''Suchomimus'', from Ancient Greek ''σούχος'' (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile", and Latin ''mimus'', meaning "actor", is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, North A ...
'', which they name Ceratosuchopsini. In 2023, Sereno and colleagues tentatively combined ''Ceratosuchops'' and ''Riparovenator'' into a single taxonomic unit for their phylogenetic analysis. They reason that the different features between the two taxa could be attributed to individual variation, citing the cranial variation present in specimens of ''
Allosaurus fragilis ''Allosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of theropoda, theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Geologic time scale, period (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian Geologic time scale, ages). The first fossil ...
''. Some of their supposed distinguishing features are also seen in parts of the braincase of ''Suchomimus'', their closest relative. The results of their phylogenetic analysis (with ''Ceratosuchops'' and ''Riparovenator'' scored together) yielded similar results to those of Barker ''et al.'' (2021), with the Wessex baryonychine fossils recovered as the sister taxon to ''Suchomimus''.


Palaeobiology

A 2023 study by Barker and colleagues based on CT scans of the braincases of ''Ceratosuchops'' and ''Baryonyx'' found that the brain anatomy of these baryonychines was similar to that of other non-
maniraptoriform Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow-tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyran ...
theropods. Their neurosensory capabilities such as hearing and
olfaction The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, ...
(sense of smell) were unexceptional, and their gaze stabilisation less developed than those of spinosaurines, so their behavioural adaptations were probably comparable to those of other large-bodied terrestrial theropods. This suggests that their transition from terrestrial hypercarnivores to
semi-aquatic In biology, being semi-aquatic refers to various macroorganisms that live regularly in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. When referring to animals, the term describes those that actively spend part of their daily time in water (in ...
“generalists” during their evolution did not require substantial modification of their brain and sensory systems. This could mean that spinosaurids were either pre-adapted for detection and capture of aquatic prey, or that their transition to semi-aquatic lifestyles only required modifications to the bones associated with the mouth. Their reptile encephalization quotient values imply that the cognitive capacity and behavioural sophistication of baryonychines did not deviate much from that of other basal theropods.


Palaeoenvironment

''Ceratosuchops'' lived in a dry mediterranean habitat in the
Wessex Formation The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich England, English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian Stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vectis Form ...
, where rivers were home to
riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...
s. Like most spinosaurs, it would have fed on available small to medium-sized aquatic and terrestrial prey in these areas. Other dinosaurs from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight include the theropods ''
Riparovenator ''Riparovenator'' ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of Baryonychinae, baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain. The genus contains a Monotypic taxon, single species, ''Riparovenator milnerae''. Di ...
'', ''
Neovenator ''Neovenator'' ( nˈiːə͡ʊvˌɛne͡ɪtə; "new hunter") is a genus of carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur. It is known primarily from several skeletons found in the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian-Barremian) Wessex Formation on the south co ...
'', ''
Eotyrannus ''Eotyrannus'' (meaning "dawn tyrant") is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur hailing from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation beds, included in Wealden Group, located in the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The re ...
'', '' Aristosuchus'', '' Thecocoelurus'', '' Calamospondylus'', and '' Ornithodesmus'', the ornithopods ''Iguanodon'', ''
Hypsilophodon ''Hypsilophodon'' (; meaning "high-crested tooth") is a neornithischian dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous period of England. It has traditionally been considered an early member of the group Ornithopoda, but recent research has put this ...
'', and ''
Valdosaurus ''Valdosaurus'' ("Weald Lizard") is a genus of bipedal herbivorous iguanodont ornithopod dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere in England, and possibly also Spain and Romania. It lived during the Early Cretaceous. Discovery and namin ...
'', the sauropods ''
Ornithopsis ''Ornithopsis'' (meaning "bird-likeness") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous of England and possibly Germany. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is ''O. hulkei,'' which is only known from frag ...
'', ''
Eucamerotus ''Eucamerotus'' (meaning "well-chambered", in reference to the hollows of the vertebrae) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation ( Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England. History and taxonomy J ...
'', and '' Chondrosteosaurus'', and the
ankylosaur Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful l ...
''
Polacanthus ''Polacanthus'', deriving its name from the Ancient Greek polys-/πολύς- "many" and akantha/ἄκανθα "thorn" or "prickle", is an early armoured, spiked, plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England. In ...
''. Barker and colleagues stated in 2021 that the identification of the two additional spinosaurids from the Wealden Supergroup, ''Riparovenator'' and ''Ceratosuchops'', has implications for potential ecological separation within Spinosauridae if these and ''Baryonyx'' were contemporary and interacted. They cautioned that it is possible the Upper Weald Clay and Wessex Formations and the spinosaurids known from them were separated in time and distance. It is generally thought that large predators occur with small taxonomic diversity in any area due to ecological demands, yet many Mesozoic assemblages include two or more
sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...
theropods that were comparable in size and morphology, and this also appears to have been the case for spinosaurids. Barker and colleagues suggested that high diversity within Spinosauridae in a given area may have been the result of environmental circumstances benefiting their niche. While it has been generally assumed that only identifiable anatomical traits related to resource partitioning allowed for coexistence of large theropods, Barker and colleagues noted that this does not preclude that similar and closely related taxa could coexist and overlap in ecological requirements. Possible niche partitioning could be in time (seasonal or daily), in space (between habitats in the same ecosystems), or depending on conditions, and they could also have been separated by their choice of habitat within their regions (which may have ranged in climate).


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108742018 Spinosauridae Dinosaur genera Barremian dinosaurs Wessex Formation Fossil taxa described in 2021 Taxa named by Darren Naish Dinosaurs of the United Kingdom