"Crocodylus" gariepensis Temporal range: Early Miocene, | |
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Species: | †"C." gariepensis |
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†"Crocodylus" gariepensis Pickford, 2003 | |
"Crocodylus" gariepensis is an extinct species of crocodile that lived in southern Africa during the Early Miocene [1] about 17.5 million years ago (Ma). [2] Fossils have been found along a bank of the Orange River in Namibia, near its border with South Africa. [1]
When the species was named in 2003, [3] it was hypothesized to be ancestral to the living Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus . During this time the fossil record of C. niloticus was thought to extend back into the Late Miocene, meaning that "C." gariepensis could have been a direct precursor to the species. [4] More recent studies propose that C. niloticus first appeared much more recently, making "C." gariepensis an unlikely ancestor of the Nile crocodile. Moreover, the most recent phylogenetic studies of crocodiles place "C." gariepensis in an evolutionary position outside other living species of Crocodylus , far from the position of C. niloticus. Indeed, the species appears to be an osteolaemine more closely related to dwarf crocodiles ( Osteolaemus ) and possibly slender-snouted crocodiles ( Mecistops ), as shown in the cladogram below: [5]
Crocodylidae |
| Paleoafrican Crocodylus Neotropical Crocodylus Indo-Pacific Crocodylus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Although much of Namibia is currently arid, "C." gariepensis lived during a time when the local climate was humid and subtropical. It likely inhabited gallery forests surrounding the Orange River. Fossils of giant tortoises and a variety of small burrowing mammals have been found in the same deposits. [2]
Crocodylinae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae, and is the sister taxon to Osteolaeminae.
Crocodylus is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae.
Mecistops is a genus of crocodiles, the slender-snouted crocodiles, native to sub-Saharan Africa.
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Eosaurichthys is an extinct genus of saurichthyid ray-finned fish that lived during the late Permian epoch in what is now China.
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Hippotherium is an extinct genus of horse that lived in during the Miocene through Pliocene ~13.65—6.7 Mya, existing for 6.95 million years.
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Saurichthyiformes is an extinct order of ray-finned fish which existed in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America, during the late Permian to early Middle Jurassic. Saurichthyiiformes comprise two families, Saurichthyidae and Yelangichthyidae. Yelangichthyidae is monotypic, containing only the genus Yelangichthys. The gar or needlefish-like Saurichthyidae is primarily known from the genus Saurichthys. Additionally, the subgenera SaurorhynchusCostasaurichthys, Eosaurichthys, Lepidosaurichthys, and Sinosaurichthys are frequently used to group species, and are sometimes considered separate genera. Species are known from both marine end freshwater deposits. They had their highest diversity during the Early and Middle Triassic. Their phylogenetic position is uncertain, while they have often been considered members of Chondrostei, and thus related to living sturgeons and paddlefish, phylogenetic analysis of well-preserved remains has considered this relationship equivocal. They may actually belong to the stem-group of Actinopterygii, and thus not closely related to any living group of ray-finned fish.
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Osteolaeminae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae containing the dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae.
Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni is an extinct species of crocodile from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of the Turkana Basin in Kenya. It is closely related to the species Crocodylus anthropophagus, which lived during the same time in Tanzania. C. thorbjarnarsoni could be the largest known true crocodile, with the largest skull found indicating a possible total length up to 7.6 m (25 ft). It may have been a predator of early hominins. Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni was named by Christopher Brochu and Glenn Storrs in 2012 in honor of John Thorbjarnarson, a conservationist who worked to protect endangered crocodilians.
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The narrow-nosed rhinoceros, also known as the steppe rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus that lived in western Eurasia, including Europe, as well as North Africa during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe some 600,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene and survived there until as recently as 40,000 years before present.
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Plesiocetus is a genus of extinct balaenopterids found worldwide. It has had a chequered taxonomic history, having served as a wastebasket genus for a handful of mysticete species.
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