Ceratosuchops
SERR-a-toh-SOO-kops
"horned crocodile face"
Type species Ceratosuchops inferodios
- Lived
- 126 to 121 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Spinosauridae
- Found in
- United Kingdom
- Named by
- Barker et al. 2021
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Habitat
Winding rivers crossed a low floodplain dotted with lakes and patches of woodland. Neovenator, Eotyrannus and Mantellisaurus lived in the same landscape.
Field notes
About Ceratosuchops
What it was like
Ceratosuchops was a spinosaur, a kind of predator with a long, low snout like a crocodile's. It probably caught fish as well as other prey near water. A brow bone assigned to it carries a bony bump, reflected in the "horned" part of its name.
Its world
It lived about 126 to 121 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now England. Its bones come from the Wessex Formation, a land of rivers and floodplains shared with the predators Neovenator and Eotyrannus and the plant eater Mantellisaurus.
How it was found
Barker and colleagues named it in 2021 from pieces of the skull. The type species is Ceratosuchops inferodios. Another spinosaur from the same rocks, Riparovenator, was named at the same time, and both are close relatives of Baryonyx.
Field gallery
More views of Ceratosuchops
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Ceratosuchops.
The evidence
The science behind Ceratosuchops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type skull pieces include the tip of the upper jaw and much of the bony case around the brain. The snout bones bear paired bumps in front of the nostrils.
- A separate bone from behind the eye, referred to Ceratosuchops, bears an enlarged boss on its brow.
- Scans of its braincase reveal the shape of the brain cavity and inner ear.
Borrowed from relatives
- Baryonyx and Suchomimus supply comparisons for its missing neck, limbs and backbone.
- The missing length of its snout is compared with the jaws of Baryonyx and Suchomimus.
Still unknown
- The shape of its back and tail.
- Its color and skin covering.
- How much time it spent in the water.
Discovery timeline
- 2010Its worldSweetman & Insole
- 2021Named itBarker et al.
- 2022Family treeSereno et al.
- 2023SkullBarker et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Ceratosuchops
Its world
Showed how fires and floods swept plant remains and animal bones into debris beds on the Wessex floodplain.
The plant debris beds of the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern England: their genesis and palaeontological significance. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 292: 409-424
Read the paper : The plant debris beds of the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern England: their genesis and palaeontological significance (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator from skull remains and placed them close to Suchomimus within the spinosaur family.
New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae. Scientific Reports 11
Read the paper : New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Tentatively combined Riparovenator and Ceratosuchops as one species for a family-tree analysis, questioning their fossil associations and distinguishing skull features.
Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur. eLife 11
Read the paper : Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur (opens in a new tab)Skull
Braincase scans suggested low-frequency hearing and a sense of smell comparable to those of other large predatory dinosaurs.
Modified skulls but conservative brains? The palaeoneurology and endocranial anatomy of baryonychine dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae). Journal of Anatomy 242: 1124-1145
Read the paper : Modified skulls but conservative brains? The palaeoneurology and endocranial anatomy of baryonychine dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae) (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Spinosauridae
Sources: Wikidata