Stomatosuchidae is an extinct family of neosuchian

crocodylomorph Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. During Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times, cro ...

s. It is defined as the most inclusive

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

containing ''

Stomatosuchus inermis ''Stomatosuchus'' (type species ''S. inermis'') is an extinct stomatosuchid neosuchian from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Egypt. Much of what is known about ''Stomatosuchus'' has been inferred from the related genus ''Laganosuchus''. Desc ...

'' but not '' Notosuchus terrestris'', ''

Simosuchus clarki ''Simosuchus'' (meaning "pug-nosed crocodile" in Greek, referring to the animal's blunt snout) is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorphs from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. It is named for its unusually short skull. Fully grown ind ...

'', '' Araripesuchus gomesii'', ''

Baurusuchus pachecoi ''Baurusuchus'' is an extinct member of the ancestral crocodilian lineage, which lived in Brazil from 90 to 83.5 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period. Technically, it is a genus of baurusuchid mesoeucrocodylian. It was a terrest ...

'', '' Peirosaurus torminni'', or '' Crocodylus niloticus''. Two genera are known to belong to Stomatosuchidae: ''Stomatosuchus'', the type genus, and ''

Laganosuchus ''Laganosuchus'' is an extinct genus of stomatosuchid crocodyliform. Fossils have been found from Niger and Morocco and date back to the Upper Cretaceous. Discovery The name means "pancake crocodile" from the Greek , ("pancake") and , ("cro ...

''. Fossils have been found from Egypt, Morocco, and Niger. Both lived during the

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

stage of the Late Cretaceous. The skulls of stomatosuchids are said to be platyrostral because they have unusually flattened, elongate, duck-shaped craniums with U-shaped jaws. This platyrostral condition is similar to what is seen in the "nettosuchid" '' Mourasuchus'', which is not closely related to stomatosuchids as it is a more derived alligatoroid that existed during the Miocene. Laganosuchus

Unlike ''Mourasuchus'', stomatosuchids have jaws that are less strongly bowed. Additionally, the glenoid is rounded rather than cupped at the posterior end of the jaw, and the retroarticular process is straight rather than dorsally curving like in ''Mourasuchus'' and other extant crocodylians. The only existing specimens of stomatosuchids belong to the recently described genus ''Laganosuchus'', which is known from two species, ''L. thaumastos'' and ''L. maghrebensis'' from the Echkar Formation in Niger and the Kem Kem Beds in Morocco, respectively. The genus ''Stomatosuchus'' is known only from a holotype skull collected from the Bahariya Formation in Egypt, which was destroyed in World War II with the bombing of the Munich Museum.Stromer, E. (1925) "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 7. ''Stomatosuchus inermis'' Stromer, ein schwach bezahnter Krokodilier und 8. Ein Skelettrest des Pristiden ''Onchopristis numidus'' Huag sp.". ''Abhandlungen der königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse'' 30: 1–22. Because ''Stomatosuchus'' is known only from brief accounts by Ernst Stromer and

Franz Nopcsa Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...

(1926) and no additional material has ever been found, the genus remains enigmatic.Stromer, E. (1936) "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). VII. Baharije-Kessel und -Stufe mit deren Fauna und Flora. Eine ergänzende Zusammenfassung". ''Abhandlungen der königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse'' 33: 1–102. The genus ''

Aegyptosuchus ''Aegyptosuchus'' ("Egyptian crocodile") is an extinct monospecific genus of aegyptosuchid eusuchian crocodyliform. It was found in the Bahariya Formation of Egypt, which dates back to the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous. The type an ...

'' was once considered to be a member of Stomatosuchidae, but it is now placed within its own family, Aegyptosuchidae.

References

External links

Stomatosuchidae
in the Paleobiology Database Late Cretaceous crocodylomorphs Prehistoric reptiles of Africa Cenomanian first appearances Cenomanian extinctions Prehistoric reptile families {{paleo-archosaur-stub