Hylaeochampsa vectiana

Hylaeochampsa is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorphs. It is known only from a partial skull recovered from Barremian-age rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Vectis Formation of the Isle of Wight. This skull, BMNH R 177, is short and wide, with a eusuchian-like palate and inferred enlarged posterior teeth that would have been suitable for crushing. Hylaochampsa was described by Richard Owen in 1874, with H. vectiana as the type species. It may be the same genus as the slightly older Heterosuchus, inferred to have been of similar evolutionary grade, but there is no overlapping material as Heterosuchus is known only from vertebrae. If the two could be shown to be synonyms, Hylaeochampsa would have priority because it is the older name. Hylaeochampsa is the type genus of the family Hylaeochampsidae, which also includes Iharkutosuchus from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. James Clark and Mark Norell positioned it as the sister group to Crocodylia. Hylaeochampsa is currently the oldest known unambiguous eusuchian.

No picture of Hylaeochampsa vectiana was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Hylaeochampsa vectiana, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HylaeochampsaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 6.2 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 125.77 Mya and 119.57 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 1 occurrenceEarly Cretaceous126–126 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences126.3 Mya119.1 Mya

1 occurrence of Hylaeochampsa vectiana on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Vectis — 50.65°N, 1.47°W

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The named rock units Hylaeochampsa vectiana has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Hylaeochampsa vectiana and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Hylaeochampsa vectiana and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from that site.

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Hylaeochampsa vectiana, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Hylaeochampsa vectiana was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Hylaeochampsa vectiana, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Hylaeochampsa vectiana was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHylaeochampsa through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1874