Meet the pug-nosed crocodile: a tiny, herbivorous reptile from the Late Cretaceous

Nature · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Imagine a crocodile that ditched the river for the forest floor. Simosuchus, a pug-nosed creature from Madagascar, traded sharp, conical teeth for maple-leaf-shaped grinders. At just 0.75 metres long, this terrestrial oddity challenges everything we think we know about the typical, long-snouted, aquatic crocodyliform lifestyle.

Discovered in the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar, Simosuchus clarki was first described in 2000. Its name, meaning 'pug-nosed crocodile' in Greek, perfectly captures its most striking feature: a distinctively short, downturned snout that contrasts sharply with the long, low skulls of its relatives. With 45 unique skeletal features, or autapomorphies, in the skull alone, this animal was clearly an evolutionary outlier. Its complex, leaf-shaped teeth suggest it was a herbivore, likely feeding on vegetation rather than hunting prey like the typical crocodyliform.

The creature’s anatomy tells a story of a strictly terrestrial life. It possessed a short tail, robust limbs, and an inflexible, armor-plated body covered in osteoderms. While some early researchers proposed that Simosuchus was a burrower, using its shovel-like snout to dig, this hypothesis remains heavily contested. In 2010, Kley and colleagues argued that its wide head and large eyes would have been significant liabilities for head-first digging. However, other experts, including Sertich, Groenke, Georgi, and Krause, suggest that while it lacks specialized digging morphology, it may have used its head to assist in scratch-digging with its limbs.

The evolutionary history of Simosuchus is equally complex. Initially placed within the family Notosuchidae, subsequent phylogenetic studies have shifted its position repeatedly, sometimes linking it to the Chinese genus Chimaerasuchus or the African Libycosuchus. Because nearly all notosuchians are found across the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, determining exactly how Simosuchus arrived in Madagascar remains a mystery. With an incomplete fossil record and unresolved relationships between species, this small, armored herbivore serves as a reminder of how much of the Cretaceous world remains hidden in the earth.

Despite its armor, Simosuchus was not at the top of the food chain. Evidence suggests that adults may have been prey for the giant snake Madtsoia madagascariensis, though such a meal would have been a dangerous undertaking for the predator. Today, the remains of this unique genus continue to provide researchers with insights into the diversity of terrestrial crocodyliforms that once roamed the southern hemisphere.

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