Kinyang (reptile)

Kinyang Temporal range: Early - Middle Miocene 18–14.7 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype skull of Kinyang mabokoensi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauromorpha
Clade:	Archosauriformes
Order:	Crocodilia
Family:	Crocodylidae
Subfamily:	Osteolaeminae
Genus:	†Kinyang Brochu et al., 2022[1]
Type species
Kinyang mabokoensis Brochu et al., 2022
Other species
K. tchernovi Brochu et al., 2022

Kinyang is an extinct genus of osteolaemine crocodile from the Early to Middle Miocene of Kenya. Two species are currently known, K. mabokoensis from the Lake Victoria basin and K. tchernovi from the Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana basin. Kinyang had an exceptionally broad and robust skull, much wider than that of any living crocodile species. This might have allowed it to attack and kill prey its own size or even bigger. Kinyang is notably larger than its contemporary relative Brochuchus. While the precise reasons for the extinction of Kinyang are not known, it coincides with a larger faunal turnover that saw osteolaemines replaced by the still dominant crocodylines. One reason for this shift may have been the drying climate of Africa at the time, which caused rainforests to be replaced by more open environments and disrupted the nesting behavior of osteolaemines due to their dependence on foliage.