Suchomimus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaur notable for its crocodile-like skull and elongated snout; it lived during the Early Cretaceous period and likely hunted fish and smaller prey
2. An extinct dinosaur species characterized by a long, narrow jaw resembling that of a modern crocodile, inhabiting earth in the Early Cretaceous and exhibiting piscivorous feeding habits
3. A prehistoric meat-eating reptile distinguished by its crocodilian snout and dinosaurian body, dating from the Early Cretaceous, presumed to have specialized in catching aquatic animals

Etymology: Suchomimus takes its name from "Suchus," the crocodile-headed Egyptian god, and the Latin "mimus," meaning "mimic." The name was given to the dinosaur because its long, narrow jaws look strikingly like a crocodile's, so the animal seems to imitate a crocodile even though it was a theropod, a relative of the meat-eating dinosaurs and birds. The first element, "sucho-," points to Suchus, a deity worshipped in ancient Egypt who was depicted with a crocodile's head. Paleontologists chose this name because of the resemblance between the fossil's skull and the snout of the crocodile god's animal form. The second element, "mimus," is the Latin word for an actor or mimic, borrowed into scientific naming as a way of describing the creature's resemblance. Together the two parts make a compound coined in the scientific language of paleontology, shaped in the same way as other dinosaur names built from classical roots. The name therefore describes a crocodile-like imitator, a useful reminder of how dinosaur names often combine myth and Latin to capture a single visible feature.