LAEVISUCHUS
a meat-eating noasaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of India.
Pronunciation: LEE-vi-SOOK-us
Meaning: Light crocodile
Author/s: Huene and Matley (
1933)
Synonyms: Jubbulpuria tenuis?
First Discovery: Madhya Pradesh, India
Discovery Chart Position: #169
Laevisuchus indicus
(Indian Light crocodile)Etymology
Laevisuchus is derived from the Latin "levis" (light, swift) and "soukhos" (the Greek name for the Egyptian crocodile god, Sobek).
The
species epithet,
indicus, means "Indian" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of
Laevisuchus were discovered in the Carnosaur Bed Member of the Lameta Formation, near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India, by Charles Alfred Matley in 1917.
A
holotype was not assigned by von Huene and Matley and a lectotype has not been chosen since. So,
Laevisuchus is represented by four syntypes: three neck vertebrae (GSI K20/613, GSI K20/614 and GSI K27/696) and a back vertebra (GSI K27/588), all of which were thought long lost. But GSI K20/613 was rediscovered in three pieces in unmarked boxes, in the Invertebrate Gallery of the Indian Museum in 2012.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Maastrichtian
Age range: 71-66 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Huene F von (1932) "Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte: Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie".
In Soergel W (ed.) "Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie", Serie 1, Heft 4: 1–361.
• Huene F von and Matley CA (1933) "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India".
Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, 21(1): 1-74.
• Tykoski RS and Rowe T (2004) "Ceratosauria". In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Novas FE, Agnolin FL and Bandyopadhyay S (2004) "
Cretaceous theropods from India: a review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933)".
Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, nuevo serie 6(1): 67-103.
• Mohabey DM, Sen Su and Wilson JA (2013) "India's first dinosaur, rediscovered".
Current Science, 104(1): 34–37.
• Mohabey DM, Samant B, Vélez-Rosado KI and Wilson Mantilla JA (2024) "A review of small-bodied theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of India, with description of new cranial remains of a noasaurid (Theropoda: Abelisauria)".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e2288088.
DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2288088.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
LAEVISUCHUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/LAEVISUCHUS›. Web access: 05th Mar 2026.
