Caiman is a genus of caimans within the alligatorid subfamily Caimaninae. They inhabit Central and South America. They are relatively small sized crocodilians, with all species reaching lengths of only a few meters and weighing 6 to 40 kg on average.
Purussaurus is an extinct genus of giant caiman that lived in South America during the Miocene epoch, from the Colhuehuapian to the Montehermosan in the SALMA classification. It is known from skull material found in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon, Colombian Villavieja Formation, Panamanian Culebra Formation and the Urumaco and Socorro Formations of northern Venezuela.
Stupendemys is an extinct genus of freshwater side-necked turtle, belonging to the family Podocnemididae. It is the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed, with a carapace over 2 meters long. Its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the Middle Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 13 to 5 million years ago. Male specimens are known to have possessed bony horns growing from the front edges of the shell and the discovery of the fossil of a young adult shows that the carapace of these turtles flattens with age. A fossil skull described in 2021 indicates that Stupendemys was a generalist feeder.
Mourasuchus is an extinct genus of giant, aberrant caiman from the Miocene of South America. Its skull has been described as duck-like, being broad, flat and very elongate, superficially resembling Stomatosuchus from the Late Cretaceous.
A caiman is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within Alligatoridae, the other being alligators.
Langstonia is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph of the family Sebecidae. It lived in the middle Miocene, in the "Monkey Beds" of the Colombian Villavieja Formation. Langstonia was named in 2007 by Alfredo Paolillo and Omar Linares for fossils originally described by Langston in 1965 as Sebecus huilensis. Thus, the type species is L. huilensis.(Paolillo & Linares 2007)
Bottosaurus is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene of New Jersey, Texas, and possibly North Carolina and South Carolina. Two species are currently accepted, with a third requiring re-evaluation.
Gryposuchus is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian. Fossils have been found from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and the Peruvian Amazon. The genus existed during the Miocene epoch. One recently described species, G. croizati, grew to an estimated length of 10 metres (33 ft). Gryposuchus is the type genus of the subfamily Gryposuchinae, although a 2018 study indicates that Gryposuchinae and Gryposuchus might be paraphyletic and rather an evolutionary grade towards the gharial.
Orthogenysuchus is an extinct genus of caimanine alligatorids. Fossils have been found from the Wasatch Beds of the Willwood Formation of Wyoming, deposited during the early Eocene. The type species is O. olseni. The holotype, known as AMNH 5178, is the only known specimen belonging to the genus and consists of a skull lacking the lower jaws. The braincase is filled in by the matrix and most of the suture lines between bones are indiscernible, making comparisons with other eusuchian material difficult.
Stangerochampsa is an extinct genus of globidontan alligatoroid, possibly an alligatorine or a stem-caiman, from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It is based on RTMP.86.61.1, a skull, partial lower jaws, and partial postcranial skeleton discovered in the late Campanian–early Maastrichtian-age Horseshoe Canyon Formation. Stangerochampsa was described in 1996 by Wu and colleagues. The type species is S. mccabei. The generic name honors the Stanger family, the owners of the ranch where the specimen was found, and the species name honors James Ross McCabe, who discovered, collected, and prepared it. Stangerochampsa is described as "small to medium–sized"; the type skull is 20.03 centimetres (7.89 in) long from the tip of the snout to the occipital condyle, and is 13.0 centimetres (5.1 in) wide at its greatest, while the thigh bone is 14.2 centimetres (5.6 in) long. It had heterodont dentition, with large crushing teeth at the rear of the jaws.
Tsoabichi is an extinct genus of caimanine crocodylian. Fossils are known from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, and date back to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene. The genus was named and described in 2010 by paleontologist Christopher A. Brochu, with the type species being Tsoabichi greenriverensis. According to the current understanding of caiman evolutionary relationships, Tsoabichi is a basal member of Caimaninae and may have evolved after caimans dispersed into North America from northern and central South America, their main center of diversity in the Cenozoic.
Pebasiconcha immanis is an extinct species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Acavidae. The type locality of Pebasiconcha immanis is the Miocene Pebas Formation in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazonia.
Gryposuchinae is an extinct subfamily of gavialid crocodylians. Gryposuchines lived mainly in the Miocene of South America. However, "Ikanogavialis" papuensis may have survived more recently, into the Late Pleistocene/Holocene. Most were long-snouted coastal forms. The group was named in 2007 and includes genera such as Gryposuchus and Aktiogavialis, although a 2018 study indicates that the group might be paraphyletic and rather an evolutionary grade towards the gharial.
Culebrasuchus is an extinct, monotypic genus of caiman alligatorid known from the Early to Middle Miocene (Hemingfordian) of the Panama Canal Zone of Panama. It contains a single species, Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus.
Centenariosuchus is an extinct genus of caimanine crocodylian known from the Miocene of the Panama Canal Zone of Panama. It contains a single species, Centenariosuchus gilmorei, that was named in 2013 in honor of the upcoming centennial anniversary of the digging of the Panama Canal. Two fossil specimens consisting of skull fragments were found in the Early to Middle Miocene Cucaracha Formation in 2009 and 2011, and may belong to a single individual. The species is diagnosed by a combination of skull features that it shares with basal caimans like Tsoabichi, Eocaiman, Culebrasuchus, and the living genus Paleosuchus, as well as more derived caimans such as those in the genus Caiman. One feature that distinguishes Centenariosuchus from all other caimans is the straight outer margin of a hole on the underside of the skull called the suborbital fenestra. According to one phylogenetic analysis of caimanine relationships, Centenariosuchus falls within a clade or evolutionary grouping of caimans that includes the very large and highly specialized forms Purussaurus and Mourasuchus, known from the Miocene of South America.
The Pebas Formation is a lithostratigraphic unit of Miocene age, found in western Amazonia. The formation extends over 1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi), including parts of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. It is interpreted as representing the deposits of a lake or series of lakes, formed within the foreland basin of the Andes mountain belt. It is known for its abundant fossil ostracods and molluscs and an unusually diverse group of crocodylians.
Caiman wannlangstoni is an extinct species of caiman that lived in what is now the Amazon Basin and surrounding areas during the Middle and Late Miocene. Fossils of C. wannlangstoni have been found in the Pebas Formation near Iquitos in Peru and include partial skulls and isolated skull bones. Other fossils were uncovered from the Urumaco Formation in Venezuela and the Laventan Honda Group of Colombia. The species was first described in 2015 and the name honors Wann Langston, Jr., a paleontologist who studied South American fossil crocodylians for many decades. Features that in combination distinguish C. wannlangstoni from other caimans include a deep snout, a wavy upper jaw margin, a large and upward-directed narial opening, and blunt teeth at the back of the jaws. Based on the sizes of the skulls, its estimated body length is about 211 to 227 centimetres.
Gnatusuchus is an extinct genus of caiman represented by the type species Gnatusuchus pebasensis from the Middle Miocene Pebas Formation of Peru. Gnatusuchus lived about 13 million years ago (Ma) in a large wetland system called the Pebas mega-wetlands that covered over one million square kilometers of what is now the Amazon Basin.
Paradracaena is an extinct genus of lizards from northern South America. Fossils of Paradracaena colombiana have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, Peru and Brazil. The species was described as a member of the tegus; Tupinambis huilensis by Estes in 1961.
Acresuchus is an extinct genus of large caiman from the Late Miocene of western Brazil and of Venezuela. The genus contains a single species, A. pachytemporalis. Acresuchus is a close relative of the giant caiman Purussaurus.
