GnathostomataAlligatoroidea

Deinosuchus hatcheri

Deinosuchus hatcheri skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, length ~9.1 m.
Scale bar = 1 meter
Taxon
Deinosuchus hatcheri Holland, 1909
Reconstructed length
~9.1 m (30 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2010, revised 2018
Clade
  1. Gnathostomata
  2. Tetrapoda
  3. Amniota
  4. Sauropsida
  5. Archosauromorpha
  6. Archosauria
  7. Pseudosuchia
  8. Crocodylomorpha
  9. Neosuchia
  10. Crocodylia
  11. Alligatoroidea

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An enormous crocodylian of Late Cretaceous North America, the “terror crocodile,” large enough to prey on dinosaurs. The placement of Deinosuchus is debated: traditionally an alligatoroid, but recent analyses recover it outside Alligatoroidea, on the stem lineage leading to crown Crocodylia rather than within it.