Elosuchus had an elongated snout like agharial and was probably a fully aquatic animal. The type species,E. cherifiensis from Algeria and Morocco, was originally described as a species ofThoracosaurus by Lavocat,[2] but was recognized as a genus separate fromThoracosaurus by de Broin in 2002.Elosuchus felixi, described from theEchkar Formation of Niger, was renamedFortignathus in 2016 and is either a dyrosaurid relative or a non-hyposaurine dyrosaurid.[3][4] The largest known skull indicates a body length of up to 7.7 metres (25 ft 3 in).[1]
de Broin (2002) created the familyElosuchidae to containElosuchus and the genusStolokrosuchus from Niger.[3] However, recentphylogenetic analyses usually findStolokrosuchus to be one of thebasalmost neosuchian, only distantly related toElosuchus.[5][6][7][8] Some analyses find a monophyleticPholidosauridae that includesElosuchus,[7] while other analyses findElosuchus to nest with taxa likeSarcosuchus in a clade as a sister-taxon to the nodeDyrosauridae+Pholidosauridae.[6][8]
^Lavocat, R., 1955, Decouverte d'un Crocodilien du genreThoracosaurus dans le Cretace Superiuer d'Afrique: Bulletin du Museum National d'Historie Naturelle, Paris, v. 2, n. 27, p. 338-340.
^abde Broin, F. de L., 2002,Elosuchus, a new genus of crocodile from the Lower Cretaceous of the North of Africa: C. R. Palevol, v. 1, p. 275-285.
^Mark T. Young; Alexander K. Hastings; Ronan Allain; Thomas J. Smith (2016). "Revision of the enigmatic crocodyliform Elosuchus felixi de Lapparent de Broin, 2002 from the Lower–Upper Cretaceous boundary of Niger: potential evidence for an early origin of the clade Dyrosauridae". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Online edition. doi:10.1111/zoj.12452.
^Turner, Alan H.; Sertich, Joseph J. W. (2010). "Phylogenetic history ofSimosuchus clarki (Crocodyliformes: Notosuchia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.30 (6, Memoir 10):177–236.doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.532348.S2CID86737170.
^abMarco Brandalise de Andrade; Richard Edmonds; Michael J. Benton; Remmert Schouten (2011). "A new Berriasian species ofGoniopholis (Mesoeucrocodylia, Neosuchia) from England, and a review of the genus".Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.163 (s1):S66 –S108.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00709.x.
^abBronzati, M.; Montefeltro, F. C.; Langer, M. C. (2012). "A species-level supertree of Crocodyliformes".Historical Biology.24 (6):598–606.doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.662680.S2CID53412111.
