January 2003

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Dallas artist Karen Carr did this rendering of what Pachycheilosuchus trinquei may have looked like.

SMU paleontology student Jack Rogers describes a new species of fossil crocodile in the March 2003 issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Rogers named the crocodile Pachycheilosuchus trinquei after Stephenville, Texas, resident Lance Trinque, who assisted him with his field work.

Rogers found pieces from at least 13 of the fossil crocodiles on a private ranch near Stephenville. The crocodiles were between two and three feet in length and lived 112 million years ago. They belonged to a family of small crocodiles called Atoposauridae that no longer exists.