Comahuesuchidae is a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of notosuchia

Notosuchia

Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Cretaceous. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, and Asia...

n crocodyliforms. Constructed in 1991, it includes the genera

Genera

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 Comahuesuchus

Comahuesuchus

Comahuesuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It was described by palaeontologist José Bonaparte in 1991.The type species is C. brachybuccalis.- Material :...

and Anatosuchus

Anatosuchus

Anatosuchus is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph discovered in Gadoufaoua, Niger, and described by a team of palaeontologists led by the American Paul Sereno in 2003, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology...

. Among the characteristics that are unique to this family is an external naris that is inset into the tip of the snout. There is also a diastema

Diastema (dentistry)

Diastema is a space or gap between two teeth. Many species of mammals have diastemata as a normal feature, most commonly between the incisors and molars.-In humans:...

, or gap between the teeth, at the tip of the upper and lower jaws. Both Anatosuchus and Comahuesuchus have maxilla

Maxilla

The maxilla is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible , which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis. Sometimes The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper...

ry tooth rows in the upper jaw that extend out and over the dentary tooth rows of the lower jaw.

Several recent phylogenetic analyses of notosuchians have placed Anatosuchus outside of Notosuchia altogether, and therefore outside Comahuesuchidae. If this is true, Comahuesuchus would be the only member of Comahuesuchidae.