''Diplocynodon'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of alligatoroid that lived during the Paleocene to

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million y ...

in Europe. It looked very similar to the modern caiman in that it was small and had bony armour scutes covering its neck, back, belly, and tail. The longest ''Diplocynodon'' recovered was 4 feet in length and probably fed on small fish, frogs, and took insects when young. In the nineteenth century, ''D. steineri'' was named from

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, Austria and ''D. styriacus'' was named from Austria and France. A third Austrian species, ''Enneodon ungeri'', was placed in its own genus. The Austrian and French species of ''Diplocynodon'' were synonymized with ''E. ungeri'' in 2011, and because the name ''Diplocynodon'' has priority over ''Enneodon'', the species is now called ''D. ungeri''. Other

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

have recently been found to be

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with ''Diplocynodon''. ''Hispanochampsa muelleri'' of Spain was determined to be synonymous with ''Diplocynodon'' in 2006, and ''Baryphracta deponaie'' of Germany was confirmed to be synonymous with ''Diplocynodon'' in 2012. Well preserved specimens have been found in the Messel Pit and the Geiseltal

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

deposit in Germany. Most articulated ''Diplocynodon'' specimens from these localities contain

gastroliths A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In oth ...

. In the Eocene epoch, the German sites were either a swampy freshwater lake (Messel Pit) or a peat bog swamp (Geiseltal).

Species

*Locality and/or horizon of the type specimen.

Phylogeny

''Diplocynodon'' is one of the

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

-most members of the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Alligatoroidea. ''Diplocynodon's'' placement within Alligatoroidea can be shown in the cladogram below, based on a 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates that simultaneously used morphological, molecular (

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data. Below is a more detailed cladogram of ''Diplocynodon'':

References

* ''Fossils'' (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 243)

External links

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Crocodilians Paleocene crocodylomorphs Eocene crocodylomorphs Oligocene crocodylomorphs Miocene crocodylomorphs Miocene genus extinctions Paleocene reptiles of Europe Paleocene first appearances Eocene reptiles of Europe Oligocene reptiles of Europe Miocene reptiles of Europe Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Fossils of Austria {{paleo-archosaur-stub Fossil taxa described in 1847