Re: Purussaurus

["Bjork, Phil" <pbjork@msmailgw.sdsmt.edu>]

Unless there have been some recent discoveries, this form is known by skull, 
jaws and dermal scutes but not post-cranial skeleton.   Ken Campbell at the 
Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles may know more about it.
 ----------
>From: dinosaur
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Purussaurus
Date: Mon, May 1, 1995 12:41PM

>
>>I would like to get some information on the massive carnivore 
'Purussaurus'
>>that once roamed the Amazon basin in South America.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Matthew Garman.
>
>Purrusaurus was a gigantic alligatorid (caiman or alligator) of the Miocene
>(mid-Cenozoic) of Amazonia.  Estimates of its mass put it at about 15-18
>tonnes, or 3 times as heavy as a T. rex!

Was this fellow considered primarily aquatic?  If it had the sprawled legs
of most of its relatives, it's hard to imagine it lifting its bulk off the
ground very much.

Art