Kentisuchus spenceri
Kentisuchus spenceri
Summary
Kentisuchus spenceri was a slender-snouted early crocodylian adapted to hunting in water. Its long rostrum and numerous conical teeth formed an effective grasping apparatus for slippery prey, making fishes a likely major component of its diet; small aquatic vertebrates would also have been within its feeding range. This interpretation follows directly from its longirostrine skull and tooth form rather than from analogy alone.
It was probably a semi-aquatic predator of rivers, estuaries and coastal waterways within the warm early Eocene landscape, using the water both for locomotion and hunting while retaining the general amphibious lifestyle of crocodylians. The species is best known from skulls and jaws, which preserve an unusually distinctive skull-table architecture.
Quick Identification
Look for: a long, narrow crocodylian skull in which the back edge of the skull table forms a conspicuous M-shape when viewed from behind. From above, check for a triangular midline groove behind the two supratemporal openings, a very long prefrontal nearly matching the lacrimal, and nasal bones that enter the rear margin of the external nostril.
Diagnostic Features
- Posterior skull table is M-shaped in rear view because the posterolateral squamosal surfaces slope ventrally.
- A conspicuous triangular dorsal sulcus crosses the parietal and supraoccipital behind the supratemporal fenestrae.
- Prefrontal is nearly as long anteroposteriorly as the lacrimal.
- Lacrimal sutural outline has a cleft at the anteriormost end of the bone.
- Nasal bones enter and externally disrupt the dorsal rim of the external narial opening.
Fossil Details
Recorded Fossil Sites
London Clay Formation
References
- Brochu, C.A. (2007). Systematics and taxonomy of Eocene tomistomine crocodylians from Britain and Northern Europe. Palaeontology, 50(4), 917–928 View reference