since the discovery of the earliest fragmentary remains that will come to be known as "deinosuchus", it was found that it was a relative of crocodiles, going as far as placing it in the same family (crocodylidae) in 1954, this assignment was mostly supported by dental features but was overturned in 1999 when the finding of new specimens from texas and georgia helped place "deinosuchus" in a phylogenetic analysis, finding it in a basal position within the clade alligatoroidea along with "leidyosuchus". this classification was bolstered in 2005 by the discovery of a well-preserved "deinosuchus" brain case from the blufftown formation of alabama, which shows some features reminiscent of those in the modern american alligator, "deinosuchus" however, was not a direct ancestor of modern alligators.