Lazarussuchus is the youngest member of the group Choristodera and the only choristodere to have lived after the Eocene. The crocodile-like neochoristoderes went extinct at the start of the Eocene, possibly due to climatic changes happening at this time, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The first discovered fossils of Lazarussuchus came from the Late Oligocene, meaning that it extended the fossil range of Choristodera by several million years. At the time of its discovery Lazarussuchus was considered an example of the Lazarus effect because its "unexpected" presence followed a long gap in the choristodere fossil record.
