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Re: Purussaurus

>Hi all...
>
>I was going through some articles that I've collected over the years,
>and I found one that I'd clipped from Omni magazine some years back.  It
>was in regards to a truly massive South American crocodilian named
>Purussaurus.  The article is short, and gives some preliminary
>measurements (40' long, 8' tall, 10-12 tons), and was touted as among
>the Earth's largest carnivores.  It lived and died as recently as 8
>million years ago.
>


Purussaurus is a very large caiman, known from several parts of South
America during the Tertiary.  35-40 ft. is estimated for the really big
Pliocene taxon (P. brasiliensis), but even P. neivensis is big.


In case anyone cares, I'll be incommunicado for a month.

chris



-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Christopher Brochu

Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Department of Geology
Field Museum of Natural History
Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road
Chicago, IL  60605  USA

phone:  312-922-9410, ext. 469
fax:  312-922-9566

cbrochu@fmppr.fmnh.org