''Elosuchus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

neosuchia Neosuchia is a clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all crocodylomorphs more closely related to ''Crocodylus niloticus' ...

crocodyliform Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only pseudo ...

that lived during the

Middle Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

of what is now Africa (

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMorocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Description and taxonomy

''Elosuchus'' had an elongated snout like a

gharial The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct b ...

and was probably a fully aquatic animal. The type species, ''E. cherifiensis'' from Algeria and Morocco, was originally described as a species of ''

Thoracosaurus ''Thoracosaurus'' is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph which existed during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene in North America and Europe. The taxon had traditionally been thought to be related to the modern false gharial, large ...

'' by Lavocat, but was recognized as a genus separate from ''Thoracosaurus'' by de Broin in 2002. ''Elosuchus felixi'', described from the

Echkar Formation The Echkar Formation is a geological formation comprising sandstones and claystones in the Agadez Region of Niger, central Africa. Description Its strata date back to the Late Albian to Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stages, about 100-95 million ...

of Niger, was renamed ''

Fortignathus ''Fortignathus'' is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid or peirosaurid crocodylomorph Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to ...

'' in 2016 and is either a dyrosaurid relative or a non-hyposaurine dyrosaurid.de Broin, F. de L., 2002, ''Elosuchus'', a new genus of crocodile from the Lower Cretaceous of the North of Africa: C. R. Palevol, v. 1, p. 275-285.Mark T. Young; Alexander K. Hastings; Ronan Allain; Thomas J. Smith (2016). "Revision of the enigmatic crocodyliform Elosuchus felixi de Lapparent de Broin, 2002 from the Lower–Upper Cretaceous boundary of Niger: potential evidence for an early origin of the clade Dyrosauridae". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Online edition. doi:10.1111/zoj.12452.

Phylogeny

de Broin (2002) created the family Elosuchidae to contain ''Elosuchus'' and the genus ''

Stolokrosuchus ''Stolokrosuchus'' is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodylomorph that lived during the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils, including a skull with a long thin snout and bony knobs on the prefrontal, have been found in Niger. ''Stolokrosuchus'' wa ...

'' from Niger. However, recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses usually find ''Stolokrosuchus'' to be one of the

basalmost In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the ''base'' (or root) of a rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to nodes regarded as being close to th ...

neosuchian, only distantly related to ''Elosuchus''. Some analyses find a monophyletic

Pholidosauridae Pholidosauridae is an extinct family of aquatic neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils have been found in Europe (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden), Africa (Algeria, Niger, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia), North Amer ...

that includes ''Elosuchus'', while other analyses find ''Elosuchus'' to nest with taxa like ''

Sarcosuchus ''Sarcosuchus'' (; ) is an extinct genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of living crocodilians that lived during the Early Cretaceous, from the late Hauterivian to the early Albian, 133 to 112 million years ago of what is now Africa and ...

'' in a clade as a sister-taxon to the node

Dyrosauridae Dyrosauridae is a family of extinct neosuchian crocodyliforms that lived from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the Eocene. Dyrosaurid fossils are globally distributed, having been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South Amer ...

+Pholidosauridae.

References

Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs of Africa Fossil taxa described in 2002 Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Prehistoric marine crocodylomorphs Fossils of Algeria Fossils of Morocco Neosuchians Cenomanian genera {{paleo-archosaur-stub