Description
Champsosaurus Reptile
- Champsosaurus Tooth
- Cretaceous Age
- Hell Creek Formation
- Harding County, South Dakota
- These 3 tiny specimens measures approx. 2mm – 3mm +/- and will come in a 1.25″ Gem Jar.
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Champsosaurus is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile belonging to the order Choristodera. Champsosauridae is the best-known family of the Choristodera and typifies the group. Champsosaurus was first described from Late Cretaceous strata of Montana by Cope in 1876. Champsosaurs resembled modern gharials (gavials) or false gharials.
The skull of these animals have a long, thin snout filled with small, sharp conical teeth. This is due to champsosaurs and gharials occupying similar niches: hunting small aquatic prey in rivers and swamps. This is a classic example of convergent evolution. More primitive choristoderes have shorter, broader snouts.
Their skulls are actually very similar to lizard skulls, though heavily modified. This has led some researchers to consider champsosaurids as lepidosauromorphs. However, champsosaurs lack the complex quadrate of lepidosaurians. With features of both diapsid groups, the phylogenetic position of Choristodera is highly confused.
By Anderson and Barnum Brown
