Albertochampsa
Encyclopedia
Albertochampsa is an extinct genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of globidonta
Globidonta
Globidonta is a clade of alligatoroids that includes alligators, caimans, and closely related extinct forms. It is defined as a stem-based clade including Alligator mississippiensis and all forms more closely related to it than to Diplocynodon...

n alligatoroid
Alligatoroidea
Alligatoroidea is a superfamily of crocodilians that evolved in the Late Cretaceous period. Cladistically, it is defined as Alligator mississippiensis and all crocodylians more closely related to A. mississippiensis than to either Crocodylus niloticus or Gavialis gangeticus ....

 from the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...

 of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

. It was named in 1972 by Bruce Erickson
Bruce Erickson (paleontologist)
Bruce R. Erickson is an American paleontologist and former Chair of Paleontology at the Science Museum of Minnesota. He retired as Chair of Paleontology in 1996. During the course of his lifetime and his 44 years as a paleontologist, he has "collected about a million specimens" and discovered...

, and the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is A. langstoni. It is known from a skull from the Campanian
Campanian
The Campanian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch . The Campanian spans the time from 83.5 ± 0.7 Ma to 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma ...

-age Dinosaur Park Formation
Dinosaur Park Formation
The Dinosaur Park Formation is the uppermost member of the Judith River Group, a major geologic unit in southern Alberta. It was laid down over a period of time between about 76.5 and 75 million years ago. The formation is made up of deposits of a high-sinuosity fluvial system, and is capped...

, where it was rare; Leidyosuchus
Leidyosuchus
Leidyosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It was named in 1907 by Lawrence Lambe, and the type species is L. canadensis. It is known from a number of specimens from the middle Campanian age Dinosaur Park Formation...

is the most commonly found crocodilian at the Park. The skull of Albertochampsa was only about 21 centimeters long (8.3 in).
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