Baru darrowi

Baru darrowi is an extinct species of Australian mekosuchine crocodilian. The largest known species of Baru, B. darrowi grew to at least 4 metres long.

Baru darrowi is also the largest of the four crocodile species found in the Bullock Creek Local Fauna, northwestern Northern Territory. This crocodile was a large-prey specialist, with a particularly large, muscular head and enormous canine-like teeth. It hunted in meandering rivers across northern Australia during the Miocene epoch.

Specimen number: NTM P907-70
Element: humerus
Geological age: Miocene
State/territory: Northern Territory
Locality/site: Bullock Creek

View more cranial elements from the Baru darrowi Holotype

Michael Stein and colleagues provided access to these data originally appearing in Stein et al., 2020 with data collection funded by DE150100862, DP140102656, DP140102659, DP130100197, DP170101420 and DP180100792.

Stein, M. D., Hand, S. J., Archer, M., Wroe, S., & Wilson, L. A. (2020). Quantitatively assessing mekosuchine crocodile locomotion by geometric morphometric and finite element analysis of the forelimb. PeerJ, 8, e9349.

Willis, P. M. A., P. F. Murray, D. Megirian (1990). Baru darrowi gen. et sp. nov., a large, broad-snouted crocodyline (Eusuchia: Crocodylidae) from mid-Tertiary freshwater limestones in Northern Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 29: 521–540.

Willis, P. M. A. (1997). Review of fossil crocodilians from Australasia. Australian Zoologist, 30 (3), 287–298.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.1997.004