Acynodon Temporal range: Santonian - Maastrichtian,
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Skull of Acynodon iberoccitanus (ACAP-FXl) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Clade: | Metasuchia |
Clade: | Neosuchia |
Clade: | Eusuchia |
Genus: | †Acynodon Buscalioni et al., 1997 |
Species | |
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Acynodon is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous, with fossils found throughout Southern Europe.
The genus Acynodon contains three species: A. iberoccitanus, A. adriaticus, and A. lopezi. Fossils have been found in France, Spain, Italy, and Romania, dating back to the Santonian and Maastrichtian periods of the Late Cretaceous.[1]
When first described in 1997, it was placed within the family Alligatoridae.[2] New findings a decade later led to it being reclassified as a basal globidontan.[3][1] Recent studies have since resolved Acynodon as a basal eusuchian crocodylomorph, outside of the Crocodylia crown group, and a close relative to Hylaeochampsa.[4][5][6]
The skull of Acynodon is extremely brevirostrine; it had a very short and broad snout compared to other known alligatorids.[3] Its dentition was quite derived, with enlarged molariform teeth and a lack of maxillary and dentary caniniform teeth, presumably an adaptation to feed on slow prey with hard shells.[1] The paravertebral osteoderms of Acynodon were distinctively double-keeled.