Asiatosuchus

Asiatosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilians that lived in Eurasia during the Paleogene. Many Paleogene crocodilians from Europe and Asia have been attributed to Asiatosuchus since the genus was named in 1940. These species have a generalized crocodilian morphology typified by flat, triangular skulls. The feature that traditionally united these species under the genus Asiatosuchus is a broad connection or symphysis between the two halves of the lower jaw. Recent studies of the evolutionary relationships of early crocodilians along with closer examinations of the morphology of fossil specimens suggest that only the first named species of Asiatosuchus, A. grangeri from the Eocene of Mongolia, belongs in the genus. Most species are now regarded as nomina dubia or "dubious names", meaning that their type specimens lack the unique anatomical features necessary to justify their classification as distinct species. Other species such as "A." germanicus and "A." depressifrons are still considered valid species, but they do not form an evolutionary grouping with A. grangeri that would warrant them being placed together in the genus Asiatosuchus.

Asiatosuchus

Yan-yin Wang​, Corwin Sullivan, Jun Liu · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CrocodyloideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 57.5 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 60.9 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Paleocene — about 6 of 32 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 26 of 32 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 32 occurrences61–61 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–58 Mya — about 2 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 2 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 1 occurrence47–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–45 Mya — about 1 occurrence45–44 Mya — about 1 occurrence44–43 Mya — about 1 occurrence43–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–41 Mya — about 1 occurrence41–40 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57.5 Mya37.71 Mya61.4 Mya33.4 Mya

32 occurrences of Asiatosuchus on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

32 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

11 formations

Tienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ETienen — 50.33°N, 4.28°ETienen — 50.42°N, 4.22°ETienen — 50.70°N, 4.98°ENongshan — 25.15°N, 114.40°ENongshan — 25.12°N, 114.30°ECorrales — 41.37°N, 5.72°WCorrales — 41.32°N, 5.71°WCorrales — 41.37°N, 5.75°WVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°EEntrala — 41.40°N, 5.67°WEntrala — 41.43°N, 5.57°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EArshanto — 43.65°N, 111.98°EDrazinda — 30.79°N, 70.44°ESables du Castrais — 43.37°N, 1.99°ESables de Bracheux — 49.27°N, 4.15°EViștea Limestone — 46.85°N, 23.20°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Asiatosuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Asiatosuchus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Asiatosuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

470 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Asiatosuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 32 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Asiatosuchus

Credit
Yan-yin Wang​, Corwin Sullivan, Jun Liu
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Asiatosuchus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrocodyloidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Mook 1940