Suchosaurus is a spinosaurid dinosaur from Cretaceous England and Portugal, originally believed to be a genus of crocodile. The type material, consisting of teeth, was used by British palaeontologist Richard Owen to name the species S. cultridens in 1841. Later in 1897, French palaeontologist Henri-Émile Sauvage named a second species, S. girardi, based on two fragments from the mandible and one tooth discovered in Portugal. Suchosaurus is possibly a senior synonym of the contemporary spinosaurid Baryonyx, but is usually considered a dubious name due to the paucity of its remains, and is considered an indeterminate baryonychine. In the Wadhurst Clay Formation of what is now southern England, Suchosaurus lived alongside other dinosaurs, as well as plesiosaurs, mammals, and crocodyliforms.
Suchosaurus
Type mandible and tooth of S. girardi
Skeletal reconstruction of the related Baryonyx
Holotype tooth of S. cultridens in 2011
Spinosauridae is a clade or family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, including Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. Their remains have generally been attributed to the Early to Mid Cretaceous.
Spinosauridae
Elements of the holotype specimen of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, as illustrated by Ernst Stromer in 1915
Closeup of the teeth of Suchomimus
Reconstructed foot bones of Spinosaurus; note the straight claws and enlarged hallux (first toe) touching the ground