New paper describing the eggshells likely belonging to the early mekosuchine Kambara, possibly indicating a different incubation method relative to modern crocodiles doi.org/10.1080/0272...

Lots of stuff going on so I'll keep #Croctober Day 30 a simple one Here's a photo I took myself of the 4 meter Tomistoma male that was kept at the Vienna Aquarium until not too long ago

Day 29 of #Croctober has given us another newcommer: Olkasuchus walasto, a new aetosaur from the Argentinian Los Colorados Formation doi.org/10.1080/0891...

Day 28 of #Croctober, we're racing towards the finish line This is one of my favourite images of Dakosaurus for two reasons Reason 1: it nicely shows just how enormous this animal got Reason 2: it also shows how stupidly tiny its arms were Photo by Sven Sachs ft. Joschua Knüppe

DAY 27 OF #Croctober IS FRESH OFF THE PRESS Meet Wadisuchus, published literally just this morning by Sara Saber and colleagues, a new decently sized (3-4 meter roughtly) dyrosaurid from Campanian Egypt, the oldest of its family. Art by Nathan Dehaut

Lets keep this going on Day 26 of #Croctober Simosuchus was not the only notosuchian with complex teeth. Look no further than Pakasuchus, which straight up just mirrors mammalian dentition down to the grinding molars. Illustrations by Smokeybjb and Zina Deretsky

#Croctober Day 25 Everyone loves Simosuchus. But did you ever take a closer look at its teeth? Well if you did then you'd see that they are quite complex, fitting its herbivorous diet. They also look a bit like those of some modern iguanas (pic on the right)

Love how for me its the opposite reaction. Paleoartist John Sibbick did art for Warhammer 40K?

Sarcosuchus imperator, aka “Supercroc” as seen at the University of Chicago Fossil Lab. both a full reconstruction and one still in a plaster field jacket. #Croctober #fossilfriday 🐊

Day 24 of #Croctober Among the most impressive crocs I've seen first hand is the pair of Indian gharials on exhibit in the NHM Vienna. The male measures almost 5.5 meters and has been part of the collection since the early 1900s.

Today is day 23 of #Croctober And for this purpose I want to make you mad. This is Caririsuchus. This specimen was taken from Brazil and sold to a private collector. It is as of right now lost to science.

#Croctober Day 22 Alligators are among the less diverse crocs today, only boasting two species from China and the USA respectively. However during the Mid Pleistocene there was also Alligator munensis, a small species form from Thailand Art by Michael Tripoli

Paludirex is such a cool name! Credit goes to Adam Yates for coming up with the name Paludirex, he was one of my co-authors on that paper.

Day 21 of #Croctober While modern caimans are almost seen as a joke by some people, one doesn't have to go to the Miocene to still find impressive species. Black caimans can surpass even American alligators in length and are capable of preying on dolphins Video by tuenio_costa

For #Croctober Day 20 I want to shout out some fun etymology. To the left you see Paludirex, a large mekosuchine who's name means "swamp king". On the right is Gunggamarandu, which translates to "river boss". Both have been named by Jorgo Ristevski Art by Eleanor Pease

For #Croctober Day 19 we got an extant animal, the modern African Dwarf Crocodile. The vocal range of crocs is not widely appreciated and we still learn more about them. For example, last year a paper revealed that dwarf crocs make mooing sounds soundcloud.com/user-4989432...

t's #Croctober Day 18 with Denazinosuchus, the last goniopholidid. While members of this group are an iconic part of Jurassic North America and Early Cretaceous Europe, this genus is a bit of an outlier, living during the Maastrichtina in the USA Art by Andrey Atuchin

As a paleontologist one of the best experiences ever is seeing one of my fossil discoveries restored and brought to life.

#Croctober Day 17 Remember Euthecodon from day 15? Well the most recent fossils come from the Lake Turkana basin of Kenya, an environment it shared with the massive Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, an animal that may have preyed on our ancestors. Photos by Yang Deming & Nick Perry

Everyone posts pics of the toothy end of a Deinosuchus but nobody ever appreciates all the hard work we put into it's booty, including all those fiddly osteiderms

Day 16 of #Croctober For today lets all just take a moment to appreciate the treasure trove that is Miocene South America, a true hotspot of croc evolution thanks to its warm climate and expansive wetlands. Of particular note is the Urumaco Fm. of Venezuela Art by Gabriel Ugueto

INJECT IT STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS HOLY SHIT YES YES YES youtu.be/LJvbNKrukeQ?...

Day 15 of #Croctober Despite looking deceptively like a gharial, Euthecodon was actually more closely related to today's dwarf and slender-snouted crocodiles. This genus first appeared in the Miocene and only went extinct during the Pleistocene.

At the end you’ll notice this Cuban croc (C. rombifer) blink their third eyelid aka nictitating membrane. This helps protect their eyes underwater, while still allowing them to see. #Croctober #cubancrocodile 🐊

I told you I'd get to poposauroids Day 14 of #Croctober and lets just take a moment to appreciate the absolute insanity that are derived poposauroids. Throughout the Triassic this group brought forth forms with sailed backs, proto-theropods and more All art by Joschua Knüppe

For Day 13 of #Croctober I just wanna give a quick shout out to Mambawakale from the Mid Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania. It was originally placed in a polytomy at the base of Paracrocodylomorpha, but was recently recovered as an early poposauroid Illustration by Gabriel Ugueto

#Croctober Day 12 Probably among the most obscure recently extinct crocodilians is Aldabrachampsus, a small (up to 2.5 meter) long animal of uncertain placement with a pair of rounded squamosal horns that lived on the Seychelles around 100.000 years ago

For #Croctober Day 11 we got Confractosuchus (art by Julius Csotonyi) Confracto once inhabited the Winton Formation of Australia, but unlike the tiny Isisfordia was sizable enough to even feed on dinosaurs. Which we know because we found the bones of an elasmarian in its stomach

Our fun fact for #Croctober day 10 Crocs even developed beaks at some point. Macelognathus (art by Scott Reid) is an early crocodylomorph from the Morrison Formation who's lower jaw tip was flattened and beak like with teeth further back in the jaw.

Day 9 of #Croctober, featuring Rioarribasuchus Outwardly a fascinating and imo quite underappreciated animal given the strange, forward-pointing spines on the tail scutes But while it looks unique, Rioarribasuchus is better known for being central to the Aetogate controversy

For day 8 of #Croctober I'm going way back. This is Typothorax, an aetosaur from the Triassic of New Mexico best known for how well armored it was. In fact it was so well armored even the cloaca is surrounded by an arrey of osteoderms

Day 7 of #Croctober The Messel Pit in Germany is well known for its fossil crocs, which includes not one but two distinct lineages of terrestrial forms. On the one hand the sebecoid Bergisuchus dietrichbergi, on the other the eusuchian Boverisuchus magnifrons

#Croctober Day 6 Heres a fun one from a research history POV. In 1997 researchers described a snout tip under the name Baru huberi and in 2016 skull elements were given the name Ultrastenos willisi Only last year did we recognize that both fossils belonged to a single individual

Give it up for #Croctober Day 5 While most frequently associated with coastal marine waters, teleosauroids thalattosuchians are also known to have lived in freshwater habitats. A good example is Indosinosuchus from the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation of Thailand

#Paleoctober2025 day 4 paleoart sketch of the Holocene horned stem-turtle Meiolania. #Paleoctober #Paleoart #Meiolania #StemTurtle

Day 4 of #Croctober, still going strong When you mention Sarcosuchus the thing that pops into most people's mind is the giant adult skulls that are so often displayed, but we actually also have remains of "juveniles" too

#paleoctober2025 day 4 : Meiolania ! This terrestrial turtle could reach way bigger sizes than our current galapagos ones, and is in fact an off shoot of a long gone lineage of turtles that diverged from our modern ones somewhen during the time of the dinosaurs.

It's the first ##FossilFriday for Croctober! Here is the prototype reconstruction of Deinosuchus schwimmeri, from the late Cretaceous of Georgia and other places around the south. I finally got a Pic with me in it for scale so you can see just how huge this dead gator was.🐊🧪

I finally put a human in for scale of the Deinosuchus

Today on #Croctober lets leave Neosuchia behind and go look at Notosuchia There is some evidence that the genus Caipirasuchus possessed structures that may have functioned as resonating chambers, not unlike those of hadrosaurs or the antelope Rusingoryx Art by Joschua Knüppe

A happy day 2 of #Croctober (lets see how long I can keep this going) Crocs are well known for their parenting, but did you know that we even have fossils of them on their nest? This specimen comes from Germany and clearly shows a Diplocynodon mother that died on her nest

Happy #Croctober Here's a croc fun fact for the occasion Hanyusuchus was a genus of gavialoid that reached a length of up to 6 meters and once inhabited southern China. This animal died out only some 500 years ago Artwork by the talented Hikaru Amemiya

As it turns out the City Museum Neunkirchen south of Vienna is hosting an exhibition on the fauna of Cretaceous Austria, specifically the Grünbach Formation, starting the coming Saturday www.noen.at/neunkirchen/...

Happy #FossilFriday! Meet #Thikarisuchus xenodentes (#MOR11969)! The skull of this small #Cretaceous #crocodyliform fits in the palm of your hand. Thikarisuchus was named this week in a Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology paper by #MontanaStateUniversity alumnus Harrison Allen and colleagues.

Just found a photo of when the reptile hall at the Vienna NHM got renovated over the past few years. Specifically the iconic Vienna gharial male getting a fresh paint job

Croc fans simply can't catch a break, after Kostensuchus in late August and Paarthurnax just a week ago we got ANOTHER fossil croc published Meet Thikarisuchus, a very small neosuchian from the Cenomanian of Montana

Everyone welcome our newest croc, an early Cretaceous goniopholidid named Paarthurnax. Yes, like the dragon from Skyrim doi.org/10.1080/0272...

Croc fans are eating good today, we just got a new and exceptionally well preserved robust peirosaurid from Patagonia: Kostensuchus atrox We have most of the skeleton, which suggests a total length of perhaps up to 3.5 meters

I'm back in Austria so here is my TetZoo...I mean DinoCon haul (plus two things I picked up in London).

Some components of my #DinoConUK haul have already started to disappear... Huge thanks to @arminreindl.bsky.social :)