Notochampsa 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 protosuchia

Protosuchia

Protosuchia is a group of extinct Mesozoic crocodyliforms. They were small in size and terrestrial. In phylogenetic terms, Protosuchia is considered an informal group because it is a grade of basal crocodyliforms, not a true clade....

n crocodylomorph. Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s have been found from the upper Elliot Formation

Elliot Formation

The Elliot Formation is a geological formation dating to roughly 210 to 190 million years ago and covering the Norian to Sinemurian stages. The Elliot Formation is found in South Africa and Lesotho and is a member of the Stormberg Group. It consists mainly of limestone, sandstone, and mudstone...

 and the lower Clarens Formation

Clarens Formation

The Clarens Formation is a prominent fossil site in the Tuli Basin, in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa.-Fauna of the Clarens Formation:Unidentified dinosaur eggs have been recovered from the formation.-Bony fish:-Dinosaurs:-Synapsids:...

 of the Karoo Supergroup

Karoo Supergroup

The Karoo Supergroup is the largest stratigraphic unit in Southern Africa, covering almost two thirds of the present land surface, including central Cape Province, almost all of Orange Free State, western Natal, much of south-east Transvaal, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi...

 in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, dating back to the Early Jurassic

Early Jurassic

The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...

. It lends its name to the family Notochampsidae, a taxon that has recently fallen from use as it is likely synonymous

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

 with Protosuchidae

Protosuchidae

Protosuchidae was a family of crocodylmorph reptiles from the Late Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous time periods.-Distribution:Triassic protosuchids are known from Lesotho and Arizona. Jurassic protosuchids are known from Nova Scotia, Poland, South Africa, and Arizona...

. This family was once used to include other genera of protosuchians such as Dyoplax

Dyoplax

Dyoplax is an extinct genus of sphenosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the type locality within the upper Schilfsandstein Formation in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Germany. The formation was deposited during the early Carnian stage of the Late Triassic 228 million years ago in a lagoonal...

, Pedeticosaurus

Pedeticosaurus

Pedeticosaurus is an extinct genus of sphenosuchian crocodylomorph from the Clarens Formation of South Africa. The type species is P. leviseuri....

, Platyognathus

Platyognathus

Platyognathus is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils are known from the Early Jurassic Lower Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China and belong to the type and only species, P. hsui.-Description:...

, and Protosuchus

Protosuchus

Protosuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic. The name Protosuchus means "first crocodile", and is among the earliest animals that resemble crocodilians...

, and later Microchampsa

Microchampsa

Microchampsa is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph that existed during the Early Jurassic. Fossils have been found from stratum 6 of the Dahuangtian locality, an outcrop of the Lower Red Beds of the Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China. Parts of the postcranial skeleton, such as the...

and Orthosuchus

Orthosuchus

Orthosuchus is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodyliform that lived during the Early Jurassic....

. Notochampsa had also once been assigned to the suborder Sphenosuchia

Sphenosuchia

Sphenosuchia is a suborder of basal crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Triassic and occurred into the Late Jurassic. Most were small, gracile animals with an erect limb posture. They are now thought to be ancestral to crocodyliforms, which include all living crocodilians.-Stratigraphic...

.

The genus was named in in a paper published in 1904 by Robert Broom

Robert Broom

Professor Robert Broom was a Scottish South African doctor and paleontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow...

. 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...

 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

Erythrochampsa

Erythrochampsa is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the Red Beds of the Stormberg Group, the youngest group of strata from the Karoo Supergroup outcropping in South Africa.Material from E...

. The name Nothochampsa is a lapsus calami of Notochampsa.

External links

• Notochampsa in the Paleobiology Database
  Paleobiology Database
  ' is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms.-History:The Paleobiology Database was founded in 2000. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council...