Desmatosuchus – Tube of Crocodiles

In the new tube (toob) of crocodiles created by Safari Ltd, (prehistoric crocodiles toob), there is an aetosaur (eagle lizard) featured.  This is an unusual inclusion in this particular set, but it does show how diverse the archosaurs were.

Desmatosuchus Model

Desmatosuchus does mean “link crocodile”, unlike most members of the crocodile family it was a herbivore.  Like most of the aetosaurs known to date, Desmatosuchus had heavy body armour consisting of large, four-sided plates running along the back, encasing the tail and the underbelly.  The huge shoulder horns in larger specimens were up to fifty centimetres long.

The Safari Desmatosuchus in the Prehistoric Crocodile Tube

A model of a typical aetosaur (ruler provides scale). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The model measures the best part of ten centimetres in length, we have used one of our magnifying glasses and a clear, plastic ruler from our fossil collecting kit to show the scale.  Our congratulations to the manufacturing and design team behind this Desmatosuchus figure, it is a nicely painted replica of a Late Triassic reptile.  This model joins the other nine models in the new tube of prehistoric crocodiles from Safari Ltd.  It is always fun to photograph prehistoric animal models, even ones known from Upper Triassic sediments.

To view Safari models and other dinosaurs available from Everything Dinosaur: Models of Archosaurs including Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs and Ancient Crocodiles.