Kambara

Taxobox
name = "Kambara"
fossil_range = Eocene - Oligocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Crocodilia
familia = Crocodylidae
subfamilia = Mekosuchinae
genus = "Kambara"
genus_authority = Willis et al., 1993
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "K. murgonensis" Willis et al., 1993 (type)
* "K. implexidens" Salisbury & Willis, 1996
* "K. molnari" Holt et al., 2005

"Kambara" is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodylian that lived during the Eocene and Oligocene of Australia.

At around 55 million years old, "Kambara" fossils are among the oldest Tertiary (there are some recent Cretaceous fossils that are twice that age) found in Australia. "Kambara" is an Aboriginal term meaning "crocodile".

There are currently 3 species of Kambara described, "K. murgonensis" (Willis & Molnar, 1993), "K. implexidens" (Salisbury & Willis, 1996) and "K. molnari" (Holt et al., 2005). All three are of generalised crocodylian body plan, growing to sizes similar to the modern Saltwater Crocodile, "Crocodylus porosus". This genus shows an interesting characteristic of having multiple bite patterns within the same genus. "Kambara murgonensis" has a near complete overbite, "K. implexidens" a more interlocking dentition and "K. molnarai" an intermediate condition. While initially thought to be the most primitive member of an Australasian radiation of crocodylains (Mekosuchinae), recent studies (Holt, et al., 2007) have suggested that this may not be the case, and that there are at least two separate lineages in Australia.

References

* http://www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/factsheet19.htm

Holt, T. R., S. W. Salisbury, and P. M. A. Willis. 2005. A new species of mekosuchine crocodilian from the middle Palaeogene Rundle Formation, central Queensland. "Memoirs of the Queensland Museum" 50: 207-218.

Holt, T. R., S. W. Salisbury, T. H. Worthy, C. Sand and A. Anderson. 2007. New material of "Mekosuchus inexpectatus" (Crocodylia: Mekosuchinae) from the Quaternary of New Caledonia. CAVEPS 2007, Melbourne Australia.

Salisbury, S. W., and P. M. A. Willis. 1996. A new crocodylian from the early Eocene of south-eastern Queensland and a preliminary investigation of the phylogenetic relationships of crocodyloids. "Alcheringa" 20: 179-226.

Willis, P. M. A., R. E. Molnar, and J. D. Scanlon. 1993. An early Eocene crocodilian from Murgon, southeastern Queensland. "Kaupia" 3: 27-33.