Harpacochampsa

Harpacochampsa
Temporal range: Early Miocene
skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Crocodylomorpha
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
Subfamily: Mekosuchinae
Genus: Harpacochampsa
Megirian, Murray & Willis 1991
Type species
Harpacochampsa camfieldensis
Megirian, Murray & Willis 1991
Harpacochampsa camfieldensis (front) and Baru darrowi (back, surfacing)

Harpacochampsa is a poorly known Early Miocene crocodilian from the Bullock Creek lagerstätte of the Northern Territory. The current specimen consists of a partial skull and fragments of a slender snout reminiscent of that of a false gharial. It is tentatively placed within Mekosuchinae,[1] though some experts disagree with this, as H. camfieldensis would be the only known mekosuchine with a long, thin snout.[2] Its long snout demonstrates that it was a piscivore in life.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Willis, P. M. A., "Review of Crocodilians of Australasia" (pdf).
  2. Brochu, Christopher A, American Zoologist, June 2001 "Crocodylian snouts toward adaptive radiation".
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, June 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.