Shamosuchus is an
extinct genus of
neosuchian crocodile that lived during the
Late Cretaceous (
Santonian-
Maastrichtian) period in what is now the
Gobi desert of
Mongolia, approximately 85 to 66 million years ago. The teeth were adapted to crush
bivalves,
gastropods and other animals with a shell or
exoskeleton . The genus was named in 1924 by Charles C. Mook. Most of the information on this genus comes from the
type species S. djadochtaensis, including a well preserved skull. The eye and nasal openings were not raised above the skull as in modern
crocodilians, so that the animal would have to raise its head completely out of the water to breathe . As this cranial morphology does not suit an ambush
predator, it lends support to the idea of a diet of aquatic invertebrates.