What is "notochampsa"

Notochampsa is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the upper Elliot Formation and the lower Clarens Formation of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa, dating back to the Early Jurassic. It lends its name to the family Notochampsidae, a taxon that has recently fallen from use as it is likely synonymous with Protosuchidae. This family was once used to include other genera of protosuchians such as Dyoplax, Pedeticosaurus, Platyognathus, and Protosuchus, and later Microchampsa and Orthosuchus. Notochampsa had also once been assigned to the suborder Sphenosuchia.

The genus was named in a paper published in 1904 by Robert Broom. The type species was named N. istedana, and a second species, named N. longipes, was also described. Later in 1924, N. longipes was given its own genus, Erythrochampsa. The name Nothochampsa is a lapsus calami of Notochampsa.