Biology:Deslongchampsina

Deslongchampsina is an extinct genus of machimosaurid crocodyliform from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Cornbrash Formation of England and France, possibly from the Calcaire de Caen.

History

The type species was originally named Steneosaurus lerteti in 1868. The genus Steneosaurus was used as a longtime wastebasket taxon for various teleosauroid specimens and had more than a dozen species. The type species, Steneosaurus rostromajor is undiagnostic, making the genus and species dubious and invalid. Additionally, many species of so called "Steneosaurus" were found to be quite different and unrelated to one another, thus needing new generic names.

In 2019, Michela Johnson and colleagues redescribed "Steneosaurus" larteti, creating the new genus and combination Deslongchampsina larteti.

Classification

Deslongchampsina was an intermediate machimosaurid, being closely related to but not a part of derived subfamily Machimosaurinae.

The cladogram below is from an analysis conducted by Johnson and colleagues in 2020.

Machimosauridae

Macrospondylus bollensis       Clovesuurdameredeor stephani       Charitomenosuchus leedsi       Seldsienean megistorhynchus       Deslongchampsina larteti   Machimosaurinae     Proexochokefalos hebertii     cf. Proexochokefalos bouchardi         Neosteneosaurus edwardsi     Andrianavoay baroni   Machimosaurini   Lemmysuchus obtusidens     Yvridiosuchus boutilieri       Machimosaurus buffetauti       Machimosaurus mosae       Machimosaurus rex     Machimosaurus hugii

Ecology

Its snout was not as elongated as some other teleosauroids (mesorostrine), and the shape of its jaws and teeth suggest that it was a generalist predator, unlike the more powerful contemporary machimosaurin Yvridiosuchus.

References

Template:Thalattosuchia Wikidata ☰ Q67387438 entry