Suchomimus

 
NOVEMBER 13, 01:28 EST

New Dinosaur Species Found

By PAUL RECER
Associated Press Science Writer

WASHINGTON
(AP) — A fish-eating monster with razor teeth, a long snout and foot-long curved claws has been identified as a fearsome new species of dinosaur that dominated a part of Africa some 100 million years ago.

In a study published today in the journal Science, a University of Chicago researcher said the previously unknown species was a 36-foot-long animal with the weapons and the strength to have intimidated even the famed Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of the North American dinosaur predators.

``It was an impressive-sized beast,'' paleontologist Paul Sereno said Thursday of the new species he has named Suchomimus tenerensis.

``If you were standing next to it, your eye level would be at its knee,'' the researcher said. ``This animal was easily the size of Tyrannosaurus rex. And it was not fully grown.''

Sereno said an adult Suchomimus would be 3 feet to 4 feet bigger.

Suchomimus apparently was a fish eater, said Sereno, but it could threaten virtually anything around it.

``With its forearms and its jaws, it would have been able to take down just about anything,'' Sereno said. ``It was the dominant predator of its time.''

The animal was generally shaped like the T. rex, with two large hind legs, a powerful tail, forearms and a toothy head, Sereno said.

But Suchomimus was a member of a group of animals called spinosaurids that lived in the lands that became Africa, Europe and South America between 90 million and 120 million years ago. At that time, T. rex was just emerging in North America. Three other spinosaurs have been found, but Suchomimus is unique, said Sereno.

The discovery ``provides important new insights on the evolution and adaptation'' of the spinosaur group of dinosaurs, Thomas R. Holtz Jr., a University of Maryland researcher, said in a Science commentary.

The fossil was found in Niger, a central African country on the southwestern edge of the Sahara. In the dinosaur era, the area ``was a lush climate that could support many different species of dinosaurs,'' Sereno said.

The animal's most distinctive feature is its long, pointed jaw, armed with about 100 teeth. The end of the jaw is tipped with an extra chin-like projection, called a rosette, that actually contains the largest teeth. The top and bottom teeth mesh together to securely hook prey, a design common among fish-eating animals.

``The jaw is really very much like a crocodile's,'' Sereno said. ``It was built for snaring and swallowing.''

Suchomimus' teeth also are typical of fish-eating crocodiles, lightly curved and hooked and not designed for chewing.

The animal's thumbs were about 16 inches long and tipped with 12-inch claws curved like a sickle. The two fingers on each hand had shorter, curved claws.

``The hand is amazing,'' Sereno said. ``It was probably ideal for fishing, for grabbing ... into those large fish.''

It is not known how the newly discovered Suchomimus died, but it apparently was swept into a river, rolled over and over and then buried by soil. When found in extreme desert, wind had eroded the sands that had covered it for 100 million years.

Other fossils found nearby suggest the area was lush, with water and fish that attracted many predators. At least four species of fish up to 6 feet long lived in the waters where Suchomimus hunted, Sereno said. There also were giant crocodiles.

``The most common thing we stumbled on is a very long-snouted and very large crocodile,'' said Sereno. ``We collected a 6-foot skull. The crocodile would have been about 50 feet long.''

It is likely that the giant crocodiles and Suchomimus competed for the same large fish, ``and I imagine the two squared off,'' he said.

Soaring above were flying dinosaurs with 12-foot wing spans, poised to attack from the air with wicked teeth and claws, he said. Fossils of those animals also were found.

``We think that area was pretty well maxed-out so far as the number of large animals you could put into that environment,'' said Sereno.

Ruling it all, he said, was Suchomimus.

Suchomimus