# Suchomimus tenerensis

> A long-snouted, fish-eating spinosaurid from the Early Cretaceous of Niger, with a big thumb claw and a low ridge along its back. A close African relative of Baryonyx, it shared its rivers with Nigersaurus and Sarcosuchus.

- Classification: Dinosauria (clade) > Saurischia (clade) > Theropoda (clade) > Tetanurae (clade) > Megalosauroidea (superfamily) > Spinosauridae (family) > Baryonychinae (subfamily) > Suchomimus (genus) > Suchomimus tenerensis (species)
- Length: 9.5–11 m
- Hip height: 2.5–3 m
- Mass: 2.5–5.3 t
- Age: 121.4–100.5 million years ago (Early Cretaceous)
- Fossils found in: Elrhaz Formation (Agadez Region); Niger
- Diet: piscivore, carnivore
- Described: Paul C. Sereno et al., 1998

Canonical page: https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/suchomimus-tenerensis
Last updated: 2026-09-27

## Overview

Suchomimus tenerensis lived in what is now the Ténéré Desert of Niger in the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian), among rivers teeming with fish and giant crocodyliforms. Paul Sereno's team found it at Gadoufaoua in 1997, and Sereno and colleagues named it in 1998.

It had a very long, narrow, crocodile-like snout, a large thumb claw and blade-shaped spines over its hips forming a low sail. Its skeleton showed that the enlarged thumb claw and strong arms of spinosaurids evolved before their fish-catching skulls (Sereno et al. 1998).

Its close relationship to Baryonyx from England suggests that spinosaurids crossed the Tethys seaway in the Early Cretaceous; some authors even place it in the genus Baryonyx.

## Name meaning

"Crocodile mimic", from Greek souchos ("crocodile") and mimos ("mimic"), for its long snout; tenerensis for the Ténéré Desert (Sereno et al. 1998).

## Sources

1. (2026). Paleobiology Database: Suchomimus occurrences. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org), data service 1.2, accessed 2026-09-23. https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/occs/list.txt?base_name=Suchomimus&show=coords,paleoloc,strat,loc,ref&pgm=gplates
2. (2026). Wikipedia: Suchomimus. Wikipedia (English), accessed 2026-09-23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suchomimus
3. Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd edition). Princeton University Press.
4. Sereno, P. C., Beck, A. L., Dutheil, D. B., Gado, B., Larsson, H. C. E., Lyon, G. H., Marcot, J. D., Rauhut, O. W. M., Sadleir, R. W., Sidor, C. A., Varricchio, D. D., Wilson, G. P. & Wilson, J. A. (1998). A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from Africa and the evolution of spinosaurids. Science 282: 1298-1302. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5392.1298

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Cite as: "Suchomimus tenerensis". DinoDex. https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/suchomimus-tenerensis (updated 2026-09-27).