Cretaceous Dinosaurs 
23 
As the morphology, distribution and taxonomy of Deinosuchus are 
currently being studied by Langston, further analysis would be inap- 
propriate here. The presence of this gigantic crocodilian in the Black 
Creek fauna of North Carolina is significant to the study of dinosaurs in 
view of Colbert and Bird’s (1954: 21) cogent suggestion that Deinosuchus 
“may very well have hunted and devoured some of the dinosaurs with 
which it was contemporaneous.” As Deinosuchus occurs in the hadrosaur- 
bearing formations of Wyoming, Montana, Texas, North Carolina, 
Delaware and New Jersey (our observation) — and doubtless elsewhere 
— we feel justified in proposing that giant crocodiles rather than car- 
nosaurian dinosaurs may have been the major predators upon the 
amphibious hadrosaurs. In that case the predator/prey ratios computed 
by Bakker (1972), who assumed that “tyrannosaurs were the only car- 
nivores powerful enough to kill and dismember duck-bills, horned 
dinosaurs and ankylosaurs,” may seriously misrepresent the ecological 
realities. 
Order CHELONIA 
Genera indet. 
A badly water-worn bone fragment (UNC 3370) from the basal Peedee 
Formation at Milepost 49 on the Cape Fear River was illustrated by Brett 
and Wheeler (1961, PI. 9, Fig. 5a-b) as a “dinosaur tarsal.” This bone is 
the proximal end of the left femur of a large turtle. So far as comparisons 
can be made it is similar to, but slightly larger than, the femur of 
Taphrosphys sulcatus (Leidy) as illustrated by Gaffney (1975; PU 18707). 
On the ventral surface of the inner trochanter it bears a transverse, canoe- 
shaped depression lacking in Taphrosphys. A more precise identification of 
the turtle represented is beyond our competence. The eroded and ablated 
condition of the bone suggests that it has been reworked from the un- 
derlying Black Creek Formation. 
A small phalangeal bone (ANSP 15327) from Phoebus Landing that 
Miller (1967: 232, PI. 3, Figs. 3-4) thought might belong to a small 
coelurosaur appears instead to be a proximal pedal phalanx of a turtle, 
probably Tnonyx. 
THE PHOEBUS LANDING LOCAL FAUNA 
Increased knowledge now makes it possible to update the provisional 
faunal list prepared by Miller (1967, 1968). The tabulation offered here 
should be considered an interim census, subject to emendation as ad- 
ditional material is recovered and studied. For identification of fish 
remains we are indebted to Gerard R. Case. A checklist of the 
dinosaurian specimens is being published elsewhere (Horner 1979). 
