Clarno Formation (Clarno Nut Beds)
Pristichampsus was first described and named as a species of
Crocodylus,
C. rollinatii, by
John Edward Gray in 1831 on the basis of remains from the
Lutetian Sables du Castrais Formation of
France.
Paul Gervais (1853) assigned this species to its own genus, creating the
new combination Pristichampsus rollinatii. Other species have been referred to this genus. The genera
Boverisuchus and
Weigeltisuchus from the Lutetian of Germany as well as
Limnosaurus from North America were synonymized with
Pristichampsus and their type species were reassigned to it. Langston (1975) found
Limnosaurus to be based on non-diagnostic remains, and therefore considered it to be in its own genus, as a
nomen dubium. He also reassigned
Crocodylus vorax from the Lutetian of Wyoming and West Texas to
Pristichampsus. Efimov (1988) named two additional species of
Pristichampsus,
P. birjukovi and
P. kuznetzovi from the Middle Eocene of Eastern
Kazakhstan. Following a revision of the genus
Pristichampsus by Brochu (2013),
P. rollinatii was found to be based on insufficiently diagnostic material and therefore is a
nomen dubium.
Boverisuchus was reinstated as a valid genus, and the species
Weigeltisuchus geiseltalensis was considered to be synonymous with
B. magnifrons. Brochu (2013) also reassigned
P. vorax as the second species of
Boverisuchus. According to Brochu (2013), material from the middle Eocene of
Italy and
Texas may represent other species of
Boverisuchus. ==References==