Titanosuchus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Order: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Infraorder: Tapinocephalia
Family: Titanosuchidae
Fossil range: Middle Permian

[Photo] Titanosuchus, being attacked by the Gorgonopsian Gorgonops. Reconstruction of the gorgonopsid therapsid Gorgonops whaitsi attacking the dinocephalian therapsid Titanosuchus ferox, in Permian South Africa. (c) Stanton F. Fink. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gorgonops_whaitsi_a.jpg

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Titanosuchus ferox ("Fierce Titan crocodile") was a dinocephalian therapsid, not an actual crocodile, that lived in the Mid Permian era in South Africa. Titanosuchus was related to Jonkeria and Moschops. These animals inhabited the same place (South Africa), at the same time (255 million years ago, Late Permian).Titanosuchus was a carnivore and might have eaten both Jonkeria and Moschops and other smaller vertebrates. The teeth composed of sharp incisors and fang-like canines, perfect for biting prey, such as Moschops. Titanosuchus rivals that to Titanophoneus, which is also a carnivore and a dinocephalian, but it lived only in Russia. Titanosuchus should not be confused with the theraspid Eotitanosuchus, as the latter is in a different family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanosuchus

The text in this page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article shown in above URL. It is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.