Although known for half a century, the material was first formally described by Ralph Molnar in 1982, who reported a lower jaw bone he believed to belong to a Miocene crocodylid.

The genus Kambara, with K. murgonensis as the type species, was finally established in 1993 by Paul Willis, Ralph Molnar and John D. Scanlon, who tentatively referred all Murgon crocodile fossils to this taxon.

[1] Even at this time it was noted that Kambara seemingly showed a high degree of variation among its fossils, in particular regarding the better preserved lower jaws.

[1] This was confirmed when a second species, Kambara implexidens, was named three years later on the basis of new material collected from the same locality, with some of the previously recovered fossils now being assigned to this taxon.

Although the type description is limited to the skull material (two crania and a lower jaw), which is easily comparable to the previously established species, Buchanan takes note of a "considerable amount" of postcranial remains.

[1] The skull of Kambara appears typically crocodilian, being roughly triangular with a rostrum that begins relatively narrow and continues to widen towards the back.

[2] The skull table of Kambara was relatively flat, lacking the raised edges seen in today's crocodiles, but instead multiple specimens across species show the presence of well developed pits just before the supratemporal fenestrae.

[1] Subsequent papers largely supported this suggestion, typically recovering Kambara as one of the earliest branching mekosuchines, although other taxa may be found as slightly more basal or on an even level as part of a polytomy.

Krabisuchus siamogallicus Orientalosuchus naduongensis Jiangxisuchus nankangensis Eoalligator chunyii Dongnanosuchus hsui "Baru" huberi Volia athollandersoni Trilophosuchus rackhami Mekosuchus spp.

[3] Recent phylogenies consistently point towards K. implexidens as the basal most species of Kambara, although K. molnari is typically removed due to the limited nature of its material.

One hypothesis by Charles C. Mook proposed that an overbite in crocodilians could serve a similar function as the carnassial teeth of mammalian predators, being used to break and slice.

This would then suggest that interlocking dentition may be better suited when having to restrain large, struggling prey, requiring greater force that would be more evenly spread out across the toothrow.

Buchanan argued that the confluent tooth sockets of K. molnari and their position in the lower jaw may have increased and focused the force of the bite in a smaller area, enhancing their ability to puncture and drawing further parallels to mammalian carnassials.

Among Kambara species, K. taraina stands out as having the most strongly developed processes, which correlates with larger pterygoid muscles and a stronger bite than that of its older relatives.

Furthermore, multiple species of Kambara show well defined attachment sites for musculature used to hold and crush prey, an activity the pterygoid would not be involved in.

The fossil, a nearly complete plastron, shows several circular pits arranged in a linear fashion, which is in line with the bite marks left by a crocodilian.

The amount of tooth marks present on the plastron indicates that the individual that tried to eat the turtle bit it several times, behaviour that would match the "juggling" performed by modern crocodiles.

"Juggling" in this case describes the act of repeatedly biting prey like turtles in order to change its orientation, helping to align it either with the teeth or to make it easier to swallow.

The olecranon fossa and the articular surface of the humerus both suggest a wider range of motion than in saltwater and freshwater crocodiles, but especially the former would require the description of the lower arm to verify this conclusion.

The increased range of motion is more certain based on the articular surface, and would suggest that Kambara would have been capable of high walking at a greater speed than the crocodiles found in Australia now.

Additionally, "pelvic form two" displays a knob situated atop the postacetabular crest which appears to be convergently developed with the constriction of modern crocodylids.

[10] Some additional discussion of other postcranial material can be found in Buchanan's PhD thesis, which also contained the later published description of Kambara taraina.

The possibility that Kambara possessed a "fibular condyle" similar to Triassic rauisuchians and aetosaurs, which would allow for hinge-like movement of the knee, is mentioned, but cannot be fully confirmed due to the poor preservation of that particular element.

Finally, it is pointed out that the Kambara taraina bonebed was likely the result of mass death caused by drought, something that would be less likely to affect an animal less dependent on water.

They point out that the fossil site near Murgon shows signs of having undergone both dry and wet periods, with the former greatly reducing the present bodies of water.

In modern saltwater crocodiles, the ranges of nesting females and juveniles often overlap upriver or in areas of denser vegetation, whereas large, adult males prefer deeper open waters.

This material, covered in Buchanan's thesis, includes a femur that has suffered a comminuted fracture and subsequently formed a callus, a growth of cancellous bone, during healing.

NMV P227802 on the other hand represents a heavily altered humerus, characterised by being swollen and containing numerous sinuses filled with small bone fragments, signs of osteomyelitis.

The high number of individuals present at the Kambara taraina bonebed lends itself well to this hypothesis as well, with the crowded nature of the area leading to increased aggression between its residents.

Holt, Salisbury and Willis propose that Kambara may have been found across many of the inland waterways of Queensland, possibly even all of eastern Australia where temperatures allowed for the presence of crocodilians.