Discovery and history
The holotype of Etjosuchus, GSN F382, was discovered in the early 1990s by Thomas Löffler in outcrops of the Omingonde Formation in the bed of the Omingonde River near Mount Etjo. The specimen comprises a partially complete skeleton, preserving most of the vertebral column in articulation, a coracoid, both partial humeri, articulated cervical ribs, disarticulated dorsal ribs, partial gastralia, many articulated and disarticulated osteoderms, and both lateral halves of the skull and jaws, which are split in half in the sagittal plane. The specimen was figured and provisionally identified as Erythrosuchus africanus by Martin Pickford in 1995, [1] though later preliminary description and study on the specimen doubted this classification. [2] [3]
A detailed anatomical description of the specimen was published in 2021, identifying it as a new genus and species of pseudosuchian. The generic name, Etjosuchus, combines a reference to the discovery of the specimen near Mount Etjo with the Greek word suchus (from the Greek name for the Egyptian god Sobek). The specific name, recurvidens, combines "recurved" with the Latin dens ("tooth"), referencing the morphology of the teeth. [3]
Description
Etjosuchus was a large-bodied carnivorous pseudosuchian. Its robust skull is more than 70 centimetres (28 in) long, with sharp, recurved, serrated teeth. While Etjosuchus has proportionately large scapulocoracoids compared to its relatives, the circumference of the preserved partial humeri (and likely the size of its front limbs) are extremely small for its size. As such, it likely walked only on its hind legs, being one of the few loricatans confidently thought to be bipedal. [3]
Osteoderms
As with many other pseudosuchians, Etjosuchus has two rows of osteoderms (dermal bony armor) tightly positioned along the dorsal midline; these were arranged in pairs adjacent to the neural spines across the animal's back, from neck to tail. The shape of each osteoderm is roughly rectangular, with one small anterior projection and two on the posterior. These closely articulate and overlap on top of each other from front to back. There is one pair of osteoderms per vertebra from the neck to the sacrum. The tail osteoderms are smaller and more narrow, with roughly two per caudal vertebra. [3]
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