Suchomimus

Suchomimus (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived between 125 to 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous Period. The animal was named and described by Paul Sereno and colleagues, based on a partial skeleton from the Erlhaz Formation. Its long and shallow skull, similar to that of a crocodile, earns it its genus name, while the speciesSuchomimus tenerensis alludes to the locality of its first remains, the Ténéré Desert. Some palaeontologists consider the animal to be an African species of the European spinosaurid Baryonyx, B. tenerensis. Suchomimus might also be a junior synonym of the contemporaneous spinosaurid Cristatusaurus lapparenti, although the latter taxon is based on much more fragmentary remains.

Suchomimus was 9.5 to 11 metres (31 to 36 ft) long and weighed between 2.5 to 5.2 tonnes (2.8 to 5.7 short tons), although the holotype specimen may not have been fully grown. Suchomimus 's narrow skull was perched on a short neck, and its forelimbs were powerfully built, bearing a giant claw on each thumb. Along the midline of the animal's back ran a low dorsal sail, built from the long neural spines of its vertebrae. Like other spinosaurids, it likely had a diet of fish and small prey animals.