Aldabrachampsus is an extinct genus of small horned crocodile known from fragmentary remains. It lived during the Pleistocene on Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean. The name Aldabrachampsus dilophus means "Two-crested crocodile from Aldabra". It was a small animal, reaching a length of , comparable in size to the smallest extant crocodilians.
Aldabrachampsus is an extinct genus of small horned crocodile known from fragmentary remains. It lived during the Pleistocene on Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean. The name Aldabrachampsus dilophus means "Two-crested crocodile from Aldabra". It was a small animal, reaching a length of , comparable in size to the smallest extant crocodilians.
==Description== Aldabrachampsus is only known from fragmentary cranial and mandibular remains including the premaxilla, frontal bone, parietal, dentaries and squamosals among others. Some postcranial bones are also known including several vertebrae and a femur. Like most other crocodilians Aldabrachampsus possessed five teeth situated in the premaxilla, however the second to fifth are all aligned in a straight line rather than following a convex path. Following the premaxillary teeth the rostrum of the crocodile constricted, creating a notch for one of the dentary teeth. There is a toothless region (diastema) present between the second and third alveoli of the dentary. The orbital margins of both the frontal and prefrontal bone are raised. The main body of the frontal is shaped like a pentagon with a distinctly V-shaped suture with the parietals, excluding the frontal from contributing to the supratemporal fenestrae. The anterior process of the frontal bone is slender and notably protrudes from the body following a sudden sharp constriction. Of the parietal only the posterior section is known, which shows a flat surface and a deep notch in its rear margin exposing the occipital region. The squamosal bone widens towards its suture with the postorbital and the bone bears a horn-like projection that faces outwards. Similar structures are known in the Madagascar crocodile Voay, Crocodylus anthropophagus from Tanzania and even alligatoroids like Acresuchus and Ceratosuchus. In modern species both Siamese crocodiles and Cuban crocodiles share similar squamosal horns. However Aldabrachampsus differs from these taxa in two ways. The horns are notably less pointed, showing a more rounded morphology, and their apex is located towards the halfway point of the bone, rather than the squamosal horns of other crocodilians which reach their apex towards the posterior.
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