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Wannchampsidae

Family of extinct crocodyliforms From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wannchampsidae is an extinct family of neosuchian crocodyliforms known from the mid-Cretaceous of the United States. The family includes the genera Thikarisuchus (Blackleaf Formation, Montana), and Wannchampsus Twin Mountains Formation, Texas), as well as the unnamed 'Glen Rose form' (Antlers Formation, Texas, and Cloverly Formation, Montana).[1][2]

Quick facts Scientific classification, Type genus ...
Wannchampsids
Temporal range:
Cretaceous (Aptian–Cenomanian)
Skulls of Wannchampsus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pseudosuchia
Clade: Crocodylomorpha
Clade: Metasuchia
Clade: Neosuchia
Family: †Wannchampsidae
Allen et al., 2025
Type genus
†Wannchampsus
Adams, 2014
Genera
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Classification

In their phylogenetic analysis, Allen et al. (2025) recovered Thikarisuchus as a member of an unresolved clade also including Wannchampsus and an unnamed specimen nicknamed the 'Glen Rose form' (USNM 22039). The authors named this clade Wannchampsidae. This group is the sister taxon to Atoposauridae, which is in turn the sister to Paralligatoridae. It is phylogenetically defined as "all taxa more closely related to Wannchampsus kirpachi than to Theriosuchus pusillus or Shamosuchus djadochtaensis." These results are displayed in the cladogram below:[1]

Neosuchia

Other †neosuchians

†Hylaeochampsidae

Crocodylia

†Bernissartia

†Paralligatoridae

†Atoposauridae

†Wannchampsidae

†Thikarisuchus

†Wannchampsus

†'Glen Rose form' (USNM 22039)

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