Walgettosuchus

Walgett crocodile

• Walgett · Australian place name · Walgett (town in New South Wales, Australia)
• suchus · Greek · crocodile

The name combines "Walgett," a town in New South Wales, Australia, near where the fossil material was found, with the Greek word "suchos" (σοῦχος), meaning "crocodile." The suffix "-suchus" was commonly used in early dinosaur and archosaur naming to denote a reptilian creature. The name thus loosely translates as "crocodile of Walgett," reflecting both the discovery locality and its perceived reptilian nature.

Named by

von Huene

Year named

1932

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Albian

Found in

Griman Creek Formation (formerly Wallumbilla Formation), New South Wales, Australia

Walgettosuchus is generally regarded as a nomen dubium. It was named by Friedrich von Huene in 1932 on the basis of a single, fragmentary vertebra, which is insufficient to confidently diagnose the genus or assign it to a precise position within Theropoda. It has been tentatively classified as a theropod dinosaur, but its exact relationships remain unclear due to the poor quality of the material.