Hispanochampsa Temporal range: Oligocene |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Sauropsida |
Subclass: | Diapsida |
Infraclass: | Archosauromorpha |
(unranked): | Crurotarsi |
Superorder: | Crocodylomorpha |
Order: | Crocodilia |
Superfamily: | Alligatoroidea |
Genus: |
Hispanochampsa Kälin, 1936 |
Species | |
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Hispanochampsa is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian. More than 100 fossils dating back to the Oligocene have been found from Lleida, Spain. The genus was first named in 1936, and was initially thought to be an alligatorid. However, in 2006 it was proposed that Hispanochampsa was a member of the subfamily Diplocynodontinae and possibly synonymous with Diplocynodon based on the presence of paired ossifications of the ventral osteoderms and a widened illiac blade. It has been suggested on the basis of the wide jugal foramen and dentary occlusion that Hispanochampsa was closely related to a contemporary Spanish species of Diplocynodon, D. tormis.