Diplocynodon is an
extinctgenus of
alligatoroid crocodilian that lived during the
Paleocene to
Middle Miocene in
Europe. Some species may have reached lengths of 3 metres (9.8 ft),[7] while others probably did not exceed 1 metre (3.3 ft).[8] They are almost exclusively found in freshwater environments.[9] The various species are thought to have been opportunistic aquatic predators.[10]
In the nineteenth century, D. steineri was named from
Styria,
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.[11] Other
genera have recently been found to be
synonymous with Diplocynodon. Hispanochampsa muelleri of Spain was determined to be synonymous with Diplocynodon in 2006,[5] and Baryphracta deponaie of Germany was confirmed to be synonymous with Diplocynodon in 2012.[3]
Well preserved specimens have been found in the
Messel Pit and the
Geiseltallignite deposit in
Germany. Most articulated Diplocynodon specimens from these localities contain
gastroliths. In the
Eocene epoch, the German sites were either a swampy freshwater lake (Messel Pit) or a peat bog swamp (Geiseltal).
^
abcRossmann, T.; Blume, M. (1999). "Die Krokodil-Fauna der Fossillagerstätte Grube Messel". Ein aktueller Überblick., Natur und Museum, Frankfurt am Main. 129 (9): 261–270.
^
abcdMassimo Delfino; Thierry Smith (2012). "Reappraisal of the morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the middle Eocene alligatoroid Diplocynodon deponiae (Frey, Laemmert, and Riess, 1987) based on a three-dimensional specimen". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (6): 1358–1369.
Bibcode:
2012JVPal..32.1358D.
doi:
10.1080/02724634.2012.699484.
S2CID84977303.
^Sabău I, Venczel M, Codrea VA, Bordeianu M. 2021. Diplocynodon: a salt water eocene crocodile from Transylvania? North-Western Journal of Zoology 17(1):117-121
^
abJeremy E. Martin; Martin Gross (2011). "Taxonomic clarification of Diplocynodon Pomel, 1847 (Crocodilia) from the Miocene of Styria, Austria". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 261 (2): 177–193.
doi:
10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0159.
^Jeremy E. Martin (2010). "A new species of Diplocynodon (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) from the Late Eocene of the Massif Central, France, and the evolution of the genus in the climatic context of the Late Palaeogene". Geological Magazine. 147 (4): 596–610.
Bibcode:
2010GeoM..147..596M.
doi:
10.1017/S0016756809990161.
S2CID140593139.