''Eremosuchus'' is an extinct

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 ...

sebecosuchia Sebecosuchia (meaning "Sobek crocodiles") is an extinct group of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes the families Sebecidae and Baurusuchidae. The group was long thought to have first appeared in the Late Cretaceous with the baurusu ...

n mesoeucrocodylian.

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been found from El Kohol,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

age. It had serrated, ziphodont teeth. The genus was originally referred to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Trematochampsidae in 1989. A close relation to the

baurusuchids Baurusuchidae is a Gondwanan Family (biology), family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is a group of terrestrial hypercarnivorous crocodilians from South America (Argentina and Brazil) and possibly Pakistan. Baurusu ...

was also considered. However, it was only tentatively assigned to this family on the basis of a few features of the cranial skeleton. Some features, such as a broad concave

symphysis A symphysis (, : symphyses) is a fibrocartilaginous fusion between two bones. It is a type of cartilaginous joint, specifically a secondary cartilaginous joint. # A symphysis is an amphiarthrosis, a slightly movable joint. # A growing together o ...

and laterally compressed teeth, are not restricted to the trematochampsids and occur in some sebecosuchians such as '' Baurusuchus'' and ''

Sebecus ''Sebecus'' (meaning "Sobek" in Latin) is an extinct genus of Sebecidae, sebecid crocodylomorph from Paleogene period of South America. Like other sebecosuchians, it was entirely terrestrial and carnivorous. The genus is currently represented by ...

''. Other features such as the

surangular The surangular or suprangular is a jaw bone found in most land vertebrates, except mammals. Usually in the back of the jaw, on the upper edge, it is connected to all other jaw bones: dentary, angular bone, angular, splenial and articular. It is o ...

forming part of the craniomandibular articulation can also be found in many basal mesoeucrocodylians. A later

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analysis placed ''Eremosuchus'' within the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Sebecosuchia. It is now thought to be one of many putatively assigned sebecosuchians that cannot be firmly placed within any one family. It is thought to be the closest relative of the genus ''

Pehuenchesuchus ''Pehuenchesuchus'' (meaning "Pehuenche crocodile", after the Mapuche name for the region in which it was found) is an extinct genus of sebecosuchian mesoeucrocodylian. It was discovered in rocks of the late Turonian-Coniacian-age Upper Cretac ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3337053 Eocene crocodylomorphs Paleogene reptiles of Africa Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera