Aristosuchus
Aristosuchus was a small, fast meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now England. It ran on two legs and hunted for food during the Early Cretaceous period, about 130 to 123 million years ago.14
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Fun facts
Aristosuchus was first thought to be a crocodile, but scientists later realized it was a dinosaur.1
The only known fossil of Aristosuchus is a set of bones from the hips and tail, found by a reverend named William D. Fox.1
Its name means 'best crocodile' in Greek, even though it was not a crocodile at all.1
Aristosuchus was about the size of a large dog, around 2 metres (6.6 feet) long.1
It lived on the Isle of Wight, which at the time was a warm, swampy place full of dinosaurs.1
Scientists are not sure exactly how much Aristosuchus weighed; estimates range from 7 to 30 kilograms (15 to 66 pounds).1
Most asked questions about Aristosuchus
?How big was Aristosuchus?
About 2 metres (6.6 feet) long. Its weight is uncertain: estimates range from 7 to 30 kilograms (15 to 66 pounds).1
?What did Aristosuchus eat?
It was a meat-eater (carnivore) that hunted small animals in its environment.13
?Why is it called Aristosuchus?
Its name means 'best crocodile' in Greek, because scientists first thought it was a crocodile. Later they learned it was a dinosaur.1
?Where did Aristosuchus live?
It lived on the Isle of Wight in England, which was a warm, swampy floodplain with rivers and lakes during the Early Cretaceous.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Aristosuchus was a crocodile.
Truth: Aristosuchus was actually a small theropod dinosaur, not a crocodile. Early scientists mistook it for a crocodile because of its name and some bone features.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Aristosuchus
- Named by
- Seeley 18874
- Group
- Meat-eating dinos
- Family / clade
- Compsognathidae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Compsognathidae4
- Age of the rocks
- 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
- Countries
- United Kingdom4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- The fossils were discovered by Reverend William D. Fox on the Isle of Wight, England. Richard Owen first named them Poekilopleuron pusillus in 1876, but Harry Govier Seeley gave them the new name Aristosuchus in 1887.1
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate whether Aristosuchus is really a distinct species or if its fossils belong to another dinosaur.2
Where the facts come from
- Aristosuchus (en.wikipedia.org)
- The historical taxonomy of the Lower Cretaceous theropods (Dinosauria) Calamospondylus and Aristosuchus from the Isle of Wight (darrennaish.wordpress.com)
- Aristosuchus, an Isle of Wight tyrannosauroid? - DinoWight (dinowight.org.uk)
- Aristosuchus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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