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Description
Hey guys, gals, and fellow tetrapods

Here is the second dinosaur on the list, Suchomimus tenerensis (from ep. 35)
The genus name is derived from suchos (Ancient Greek for crocodile) and mimos (Ancient Greek for mimic). The species name means "from Ténéré Desert" a south central region of the Sahara located in Niger and Chad. funny thing is "Ténéré" is the Tuareg term for desert much like the "Sahara" is Arabic term for desert. So, the specific name of Suchomimus really means "from the desert desert part of the desert desert."

The phylogeny of Suchomimus is it's spinosaurid, a clade of long-snouted and presumably piscivorous therapods. They are typically placed in the super family Megalosauroidea which also contains megalosaurids (however this is being contested in recent phylogenies with megalosaurids being more related to allosaurids). A megalosaurid Eustreptospondylus has been considered a link to megalosaurids and spinosaurids, with the front part of the dentary bone of the lower jaw being expanded, similarly but less pronounced to the dentaries of spinosaurids. Spinosauroids/Megalosauroids are first major diverging group of tetanurans (the group which contains most iconic theropods, classified generally having three fingers and a "broad-like" tail), splitting from Early Jurassic, with a current Fossil record the early Cretaceous. Spinosaurids persist up until the middle Cretaceous, splitting into two major subgroups, Spinosaurinae (members like Spinosaurus and Irritator) and Baryonychinae which contains Suchomimus. Its closet known relatives are the recently discovered European baryonychines, Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator.

S. tenerensis lived in Elrhaz Formation, located in Niger, West Afirca, radiodated to the Barremian to Albian, 125–112 mya. Temperatures were rising during the late Aptian, until reaching its climax at the Cenomanian–Turonian (average sea surface temperatures (~27-29°C in the Late Cenomanian) to (~30 or ~32°C in the Turonian)). Due to the locality of the Elrhaz , it would have been right on or extremally close to the equator (map of Earth during the Albian here ). Adding this all up, The Elrhaz would have been an extremally humid environment, being an equivalent to a natural green house. Because of a good amount of crocodyliforms like Sarcosuchus, turtles, and fish like hybodont sharks and a species of the giant coelacanth Mawsonia, the environment would have been a freshwater ecosystem. It was probably similar to the Kem Kem group and Bahariya Formation, a type of vast floodplain littered with rivers and swamps.

Notable dinosaur contemporaries include; Iguanodontians like the hippo like Lurdusaurus and sail-backed Ouranosaurus. Theropods beside Suchomimus include; Afromimus a noasaurid, Eocarcharia a carcharodontosaur, Kryptops, a abelisaurid. There was also a bizarre sauropod Nigersaurus, which has a skull I could describe as a "blunter and wider version of a hadrosaur skull."

Information came from the video on Suchomimus by the SkeletonCrew Podcast; The video with more detail, nuance, and fun banter can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=50OCEM…

Here, I have depicted Suchomimus swallowing down an Sarcosuchus juvenile whole. I chose this because of the May 2023 journal on the spinosaurid Irritator's jaw mechanics and how it could expand the base of its lower jaw, allowing it to swallow bigger things. This has caused a comparison to the new jaws of Irritator with pelicans and herons, considering that pelicans have been known to basically consume anything they can fit in their bills whole, I thought it would be interesting to see a spinosaurid doing that as well. From the skeletal I've used, it seems like Suchomimus has a similar jaw structure to Irritator, so it probably functioned similarly and could swallow large things whole.

References used:
Suchomimus Skeletal by by Dan Folkes: twitter.com/DanPalaeon1/status… pbs.twimg.com/media/FlkFDP9WAA…
Suchomimus 3d Model by Jehu Quiambao: sketchfab.com/3d-models/suchom…
Sarcosuchus Model by Raul Ramos: raulramosart.artstation.com/pr…
Sarcosuchus Skeletal by Paul Sereno: d3qi0qp55mx5f5.cloudfront.net/…
Heron Eating an Juvenile Alligator: i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/12/0…

Description
Hey guys, gals, and fellow tetrapods

Here is the second dinosaur on the list, Suchomimus tenerensis (from ep. 35)
The genus name is derived from suchos (Ancient Greek for crocodile) and mimos (Ancient Greek for mimic). The species name means "from Ténéré Desert" a south central region of the Sahara located in Niger and Chad. funny thing is "Ténéré" is the Tuareg term for desert much like the "Sahara" is Arabic term for desert. So, the specific name of Suchomimus really means "from the desert desert part of the desert desert."

The phylogeny of Suchomimus is it's spinosaurid, a clade of long-snouted and presumably piscivorous therapods. They are typically placed in the super family Megalosauroidea which also contains megalosaurids (however this is being contested in recent phylogenies with megalosaurids being more related to allosaurids). A megalosaurid Eustreptospondylus has been considered a link to megalosaurids and spinosaurids, with the front part of the dentary bone of the lower jaw being expanded, similarly but less pronounced to the dentaries of spinosaurids. Spinosauroids/Megalosauroids are first major diverging group of tetanurans (the group which contains most iconic theropods, classified generally having three fingers and a "broad-like" tail), splitting from Early Jurassic, with a current Fossil record the early Cretaceous. Spinosaurids persist up until the middle Cretaceous, splitting into two major subgroups, Spinosaurinae (members like Spinosaurus and Irritator) and Baryonychinae which contains Suchomimus. Its closet known relatives are the recently discovered European baryonychines, Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator.

S. tenerensis lived in Elrhaz Formation, located in Niger, West Afirca, radiodated to the Barremian to Albian, 125–112 mya. Temperatures were rising during the late Aptian, until reaching its climax at the Cenomanian–Turonian (average sea surface temperatures (~27-29°C in the Late Cenomanian) to (~30 or ~32°C in the Turonian)). Due to the locality of the Elrhaz , it would have been right on or extremally close to the equator (map of Earth during the Albian here ). Adding this all up, The Elrhaz would have been an extremally humid environment, being an equivalent to a natural green house. Because of a good amount of crocodyliforms like Sarcosuchus, turtles, and fish like hybodont sharks and a species of the giant coelacanth Mawsonia, the environment would have been a freshwater ecosystem. It was probably similar to the Kem Kem group and Bahariya Formation, a type of vast floodplain littered with rivers and swamps.

Notable dinosaur contemporaries include; Iguanodontians like the hippo like Lurdusaurus and sail-backed Ouranosaurus. Theropods beside Suchomimus include; Afromimus a noasaurid, Eocarcharia a carcharodontosaur, Kryptops, a abelisaurid. There was also a bizarre sauropod Nigersaurus, which has a skull I could describe as a "blunter and wider version of a hadrosaur skull."

Information came from the video on Suchomimus by the SkeletonCrew Podcast; The video with more detail, nuance, and fun banter can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=50OCEM…

Here, I have depicted Suchomimus swallowing down an Sarcosuchus juvenile whole. I chose this because of the May 2023 journal on the spinosaurid Irritator's jaw mechanics and how it could expand the base of its lower jaw, allowing it to swallow bigger things. This has caused a comparison to the new jaws of Irritator with pelicans and herons, considering that pelicans have been known to basically consume anything they can fit in their bills whole, I thought it would be interesting to see a spinosaurid doing that as well. From the skeletal I've used, it seems like Suchomimus has a similar jaw structure to Irritator, so it probably functioned similarly and could swallow large things whole.

References used:
Suchomimus Skeletal by by Dan Folkes: twitter.com/DanPalaeon1/status… pbs.twimg.com/media/FlkFDP9WAA…
Suchomimus 3d Model by Jehu Quiambao: sketchfab.com/3d-models/suchom…
Sarcosuchus Model by Raul Ramos: raulramosart.artstation.com/pr…
Sarcosuchus Skeletal by Paul Sereno: d3qi0qp55mx5f5.cloudfront.net/…
Heron Eating an Juvenile Alligator: i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/12/0…