Summary
Notochampsa is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodyliform.[2] Fossils have been found from the lower Clarens Formation of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa, dating back to the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic.[3][4][5] Notochampsa comes from a period of relative fossil scarcity, and is the youngest known occurrence of a crocodylomorph (and vertebrate body fossil) from the Karoo Basin of South Africa.[1]
| Notochampsa Temporal range: Pliensbachian [1]
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| Suborder: | Notochampsoidea
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| Family: | Notochampsidae
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| Genus: | Notochampsa |
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Taxonomy edit
The genus was named in a paper published in 1904 by Robert Broom.[6] The type species was named N. istedana, and a second species, named N. longipes, was also described. Later in 1924, N. longipes was given its own genus, Erythrochampsa.[7] In that paper, Sidney Haughton created the family Notochampsidae for Notochampsa. Notochampsa was later used to include other genera of protosuchians such as Dyoplax, Pedeticosaurus, Platyognathus, and Protosuchus,[8] and later Microchampsa and Orthosuchus.[9] Notochampsa had also once been assigned to the suborder Sphenosuchia.[10] A revision in 2021 found it valid taxon, and phylogenetic analysis recovered it as sister to Orthosuchus, in a monophyletic Notochampsidae.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c Dollman, Kathleen N.; Clark, James M.; Viglietti, Pia A.; Browning, Claire; Choiniere, Jonah N (2021). "Revised anatomy, taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Notochampsa istedana Broom, 1904, a Lower Jurassic crocodyliform from the Clarens Formation (Stormberg Group), and its implications for early crocodyliform phylogeny". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (9): 651–675. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1948926. S2CID 238241175. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ Walker, A. D. (1990). "A revision of Sphenosuchus acutus Haughton, a crocodylomorph reptile from the Elliot Formation (Late Triassic or Early Jurassic) of South Africa". Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences. 330 (1256): 1–120. doi:10.1098/rstb.1990.0185.
- ^ Nash, D. S. (1975). "The morphology and relationships of a crocodilian, Orthosuchus stormbergi, from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho". Annals of the South African Museum. 67 (1975)(7): 227–329.
- ^ Durand, J. F. (2005). "Major African contributions to Palaeozoic and Mesozoic vertebrate palaeontology". Journal of African Earth Sciences. Phanerozoic Evolution of Africa. 43 (1–3): 53–82. Bibcode:2005JAfES..43...53D. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.014.
- ^ Kitching, J. W.; Raath, M. A. (1984). "Fossils from the Elliot and Clarens formations (Karoo sequence) of the northeastern Cape, Orange Free State and Lesotho, and a suggested biozonation based on tetrapods". Paleontologica Africana. 25: 111–125.
- ^ Broom, R. (1904). "On a new crocodilian genus (Notochampsa) from the upper Stormberg beds of South Africa". Geological Magazine. New Series, Decade V. 1 (12): 582–584. Bibcode:1904GeoM....1..582B. doi:10.1017/S0016756800124367. S2CID 128988222.
- ^ Haughton, S. H. (1924). "The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series". Annals of the South African Museum. 12: 323–497.
- ^ Romer, A. S. (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-89464-985-X.
- ^ Steel, R. (1973). "Crocodylia". In Kuhn, O. (ed.). Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie (16 ed.). Stuttgart: G. Fischer Verlag. pp. 1–116.
- ^ Huene, F. von (1925). "Die Bedeutung der Sphenosuchus-Gruppe fur den Ursprung der Krokodile". Z. Indukt. Abstamm.-u. Vererblehre. 38: 307–322. doi:10.1007/BF02118235. S2CID 12461978.
External links edit
- Notochampsa in the Paleobiology Database
