Not to be confused with Deinosuchus

Deinosuchus

Deinosuchus is an extinct genus related to the alligator that lived 73 to 80 Ma , during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos , "terrible", and soukhos , "crocodile"...

, a North American alligatoroid.

Dinosuchus is a problematic genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of extinct alligatorid

Alligatoridae

Alligatoridae is a family of crocodylians that includes alligators and caimans.- True alligators :Alligators proper occur in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age. The true alligators are now restricted to two species, A...

 crocodylomorph

Crocodylomorpha

The Crocodylomorpha are an important group of archosaurs that include the crocodilians and their extinct relatives.During Mesozoic and early Tertiary times the Crocodylomorpha were far more diverse than they are now. Triassic forms were small, lightly built, active terrestrial animals. These were...

. It was very large compared to other alligatorids, save for the giant caiman

Caiman

Caimans are alligatorid crocodylians within the subfamily Caimaninae. The group is one of two subfamilies of the family Alligatoridae, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Central and South America. They are relatively small crocodilians, with most species reaching lengths of only a few...

 Purussaurus

Purussaurus

Purussaurus is an extinct genus of giant caiman that lived in South America during the Miocene epoch, 8 million years ago. It is known from skull material found in the Brazilian, Colombian and Peruvian Amazonia, and northern Venezuela. The estimated skull length for one large individual of the type...

and its closest relatives. The genus was first described in 1876 on the basis of a vertebra from the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian Amazon

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...

, the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 being named D. terror. In 1921, a new species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of Dinosuchus, D. neivensis, was named based on a large mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

 that was discovered in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. D. neivensis was later found to be synonymous

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

 with both Brachygnathosuchus braziliensis

Brachygnathosuchus

Brachygnathosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Fossils have been found from the Upper Purus River in western Brazil. As there was no lithified strata for the original specimen to be correlated with , the fossils cannot be dated with any certainty...

and Purussaurus brasiliensis, being reassigned in 1924 to the senior synonym P. brasiliensis. In 1965, D. terror was proposed to be a nomen vanum.

The name Dinosuchus means "terrible crocodile" in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

. It is not to be confused with Deinosuchus

Deinosuchus

Deinosuchus is an extinct genus related to the alligator that lived 73 to 80 Ma , during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos , "terrible", and soukhos , "crocodile"...

, a large alligatoroid

Alligatoroidea

Alligatoroidea is a superfamily of crocodilians that evolved in the Late Cretaceous period. Cladistically, it is defined as Alligator mississippiensis and all crocodylians more closely related to A. mississippiensis than to either Crocodylus niloticus or Gavialis gangeticus ....

 from Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous

The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...

 North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.