Ischyrochampsa Explained

Ischyrochampsa is an extinct monospecific genus of Late Cretaceous crocodyliform belonging to the eusuchian clade Allodaposuchidae. Fossils of the type species I. meridionalis are late Campanian in age and were found in the commune of Saint-Estève-Janson in Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Material is also known from Spain.^[1] It was named and described in 1995,^[2] and it had an estimated length of over 4m (13feet).^[3]

Ischyrochampsa was first classified as a trematochampsid, but was removed from the group by subsequent studies.^{[4] [5]} In their description of Allodaposuchus remains from southern France, Martin and his colleagues treated the genus as a possible junior synonym of Allodaposuchus.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Company . J. . Suberbiola, X.A. . Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I. . Buscalioni, A.D. . 2005 . A new species of Doratodon (Crocodyliformes: Ziphosuchia) from the Late Cretaceous of Spain . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 25 . 2 . 343–353 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0343:ANSODC]2.0.CO;2 .
2. Vasse . D. . 1995 . Ischyrochampsa meridionalis n. g. n. sp., un crocodilien d'affinité gondwanienne dans le Crétacé supérieur du Sud de la France . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte . 8 . 501–512. 10.1127/njgpm/1995/1995/501 .
3. Martin . J.E. . Buffetaut, E. . 2005 . An overview of the Late Cretaceous crocodilian assemblage from Cruzy, southern France . Kaupia . 14 . 33–40.
4. Buffetaut . E. . 2005 . Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Saint-Chinian area (southern France): a review of previous research and an update on recent finds . Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae . 5 . 39–48.
5. Martin . J.E. . Rabi, R. . Csiki, Z. . 2010 . Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania . 845–54 . Naturwissenschaften . 97 . 10.1007/s00114-010-0702-y . 20711558 . 9 . 2010NW.....97..845M . 32176974 .
6. Martin, J. E., Delfino, M., Garcia, G., Godefroit, P., Berton, S. and Valentin, X. (2016), New specimens of Allodaposuchus precedens from France: intraspecific variability and the diversity of European Late Cretaceous eusuchians. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 176: 607–631. doi: 10.1111/zoj.12331