Kambara

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For an Indian poet in Kannada language by same name, see Chandrashekhar Kambara.

Kambara
Fossil range: Eocene - Oligocene

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Crocodilia
Family:	Crocodylidae
Subfamily:	Mekosuchinae
Genus:	Kambara Willis et al., 1993

Species

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. 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.

[edit] 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.