"[t]his book on Deinosuchus is a paleoautecology of one of the most intriguing (and strangely overlooked) giant animals of the late Mesozoic Era," states Schwimmer in the Preface. "These huge animals were the dominant predators along the southern marine coasts of North America for roughly 10 million years during the later Cretaceous Period...even the carnivorous dinosaurs were its prey."
Schwimmer goes on in the Preface to briefly define what he means by the term crocodylian (he continues in greater detail in Chapter 7). "If a creature belongs to the generalized group of crocodilelike animals but its really a very basal alligator relative, what are we to call it?...To resolve the minor terminology dilemma, modern specialists who deal with these animals have adopted the term "crocodilians" in reference to the group that includes modern and fossil true crocodiles, alligators, gharials, and their closer relatives."
In Chapter 1, "The Life and Times of a Giant Crocodylian," Scwimmer sets the scene with an encounter in which a Deinosuchus explodes from a salt marsh to grab a primitive tyrannosauroid dinosaur in its teeth, mortally wounding it, and feeding on the corpse. Schwimmer continues with and Overview of the Age and Habitat of Deinosuchus, a description of the Late Cretaceous Coastal Plains and some of the sites where Deinosuchus remains have been found, and an Introduction to Deinosuchus. "A major focus of this book, besides the giant crocodylians themselves, will be the unique ecosystems and conditions of these southern Late Cretaceous coastal habitats that enabled such crocodylian populations to develop and flourish for a significant amount of geological time."
In Chapter 2, "The Early Paleontology of Deinosuchus, Schwimmer addresses some of the "Taxonomic Conundrums" associated with Deinosuchus. Many early specimens were initially described under the genus Phobosuchus (including the skull of one large specimen which was on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for many years as Phobosuchus) and others under the genus Polyptychodon and evenDinosuchus. More than one species of Deinosuchus has also been described.
