Iliosuchus

ilium crocodile

• ilium · Latin · ilium (hip bone)
• suchos · Greek · crocodile

The name combines the Latin word "ilium" (the upper blade of the hip bone) with the Greek "suchos," meaning crocodile. It was named for distinctive features of its ilium (the upper hip bone), which bore a prominent crest somewhat reminiscent of crocodilian anatomy. The genus was established on the basis of isolated ilium bones, so the hip anatomy was the most distinctive and defining characteristic available to the describer.

Named by

von Huene

Year named

1932

Period

Middle Jurassic

Stage

Bathonian

Found in

Stonesfield Slate, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Iliosuchus is generally considered a nomen dubium. It is known only from fragmentary isolated ilium bones from the Stonesfield Slate of Oxfordshire, England. It has been tentatively interpreted as an early theropod dinosaur, possibly related to the coelurosaurs, but the material is too incomplete to be confidently classified or diagnosed. The name ending "-suchus" (crocodile) is somewhat misleading, as this is a dinosaur, not a crocodilian; the reference was to the shape of the iliac crest, not to any actual relationship with crocodiles.