Dinosaurs & Prehistory - Other prehistoric animals - Sarcosuchus - Crocodyliformes - Cretaceous - Prehistoric life
What unusual feature did Sarcosuchus have on the tip of its snout?
Correct!
Sarcosuchus imperator was a gigantic crocodyliform from the Early Cretaceous of Africa. The front end of its long snout was particularly unusual: there was a striking, widened structure called the “narial bulla”. The 2001 scientific description specifically mentions this large expansion as a distinctive feature of its skull. The exact function of this bulla is still not known with certainty. During the original study, possibilities such as a role in smell perception or in the production or amplification of sounds were discussed. Sarcosuchus lived in what is now Niger about 110 million years ago. The specimens examined by Paul Sereno's team made the animal famous with the nickname “SuperCroc”. The reconstruction at the time came to a possible total length of around 12 meters, although size reconstructions of fossil crocodilians generally depend on the proportions used. It is also important to note that although Sarcosuchus looked like a gigantic modern crocodile, it belonged to an extinct lineage of the Crocodyliformes and not to today's crocodile group in the narrower sense. More recent systematic studies place Sarcosuchus in the closer relationship of Tethysuchia.
Sarcosuchus possessed a large, rounded bony extension at the tip of the snout, described as the narial bulla.
