Candidodon Temporal range: Early Cretaceous |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Family: | †Candidodontidae |
Genus: |
†Candidodon Carvalho and Campos, 1988 |
Species | |
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Candidodon is an extinct genus of notosuchian mesoeucrocodylian. Fossils have been found of Early Cretaceous age from Brazil. The genus is characterized by a particularly elongate pair of choanae in its palate. It has been named the type genus of the family Candidodontidae, first constructed in 2004. It was initially assigned to the family with a proposed sister genus, Mariliasuchus, but a recent phylogenetic analysis has shown that Mariliasuchus may instead be closer in relation to Comahuesuchus than to Candidodon and thus a member of the family Comahuesuchidae. If this is true, Candidodon would be the only member of the family Candidodontidae.