Here we describe a new eusuchian crocodyliform, collected 130 years ago from a shallow
marine limestone of the late Eocene (Priabonian) fossil locality of Cluj-Manastur,
Transylvania, Romania. Diplocynodon kochi n. sp. is represented by a three-dimensionally
preserved incomplete skull that may have belonged to a mature individual. The new
taxon possesses a relatively narrow and elongated snout and a mediolaterally shallow
but anteroposteriorly wide premaxillary-maxillary notch, strengthened by a prominent
bony ridge. The nasals are excluded from the naris and the anterior tip of the frontal
forms a broad, complex sutural contact with the nasals. Diplocynodon kochi n. sp.
possesses, similarly to other members of the genus, 16-17 maxillary alveoli of which
the fourth and fifth alveoli are enlarged and confluent; the lacrimal is longer than
the prefrontal; the ectopterygoid is situated dose to the posteriormost maxillary
tooth alveoli, the dorsal margin of the infratemporal fenestra is bordered by the
quadratojugal, preventing the quadrate from reaching the fenestra, and the foramen
aereum is situated on the dorsal surface of the quadrate. The occurrence of D. kochi
n. sp. in the Priabonian of the eastern part of Central Europe suggests that the genus
was still present and probably widespread across the continent that contributed probably
to its survival (at least locally) across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary.
