Procaimanoidea

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Procaimanoidea
Temporal range: Eocene,
46.2–41.2  Ma [1]
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NMNH-USNM15996 1.jpg
Fossil specimen of P. utahensis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Alligatorinae
Genus: Procaimanoidea
Gilmore, 1946
Species
  • P. utahensisGilmore, 1946 (type)
  • P. kayi(Mook, 1941 [originally Hassiacosuchus kayi])

Procaimanoidea ("Before Caiman-forms") is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Eocene of North America. It was named posthumously in 1946 by Charles W. Gilmore; the type species is P. utahensis, from the Uintan (middle Eocene) of Utah. It is based on USNM 15996, a nearly complete skull and partial left hind leg. [2] A second species, P. kayi, was named in 1941 by C.C. Mook as a species of Hassiacosuchus , for remains from the Bridgerian (early Eocene) of Wyoming. [3] It was reassigned to Procaimanoidea in 1967 by Wassersug and Hecht. [4]

Contents

Description

Procaimanoidea was a small alligatorid, and slightly heterodont, the last four teeth on each side of the jaws having blunt tips. [2]

Phylogeny

Recent studies have consistently resolved Procaimanoidea as a member of Alligatorinae, although its relative placement is disputed, as shown by the cladograms below. [5] [6] [7]

Cladogram from 2018 Bona et al. study: [5]

Alligatorinae

Ceratosuchus burdoshi

Allognathosuchus polyodon

Allognathosuchus wartheni

Navajosuchus mooki

Arambourgia gaudryi

Procaimanoidea kayi

Procaimanoidea utahensis

Wannaganosuchus brachymanus

Alligator prenasalis

Alligator mcgrewi

Alligator olseni

Alligator sinensis Chinese alligator

Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus

Alligator mississippiensis American alligator

Alligator mefferdi

Alligator thomsoni

Cladogram from 2019 Massonne et al. study: [6]

Alligatorinae

Alligator prenasalis

Alligator mcgrewi

Alligator olseni

Alligator sinensis Chinese alligator

Alligator thomsoni

Alligator mefferdi

Alligator mississippiensis American alligator

Procaimanoidea utahensis

Procaimanoidea kayi

Arambourgia gaudryi

Hassiacosuchus haupti

Wannaganosuchus brachymanus

Allognathosuchus wartheni

Allognathosuchus polyodon

Cladogram from 2020 Cossette & Brochu study: [7]

Alligatorinae

Ceratosuchus burdoshi

Hassiacosuchus haupti

Navajosuchus mooki

Allognathosuchus polyodon

Alligator mcgrewi

Alligator prenasalis

Wannaganosuchus brachymanus

Arambourgia gaudryi

Procaimanoidea kayi

Procaimanoidea utahensis

Alligator olseni

Alligator sinensis Chinese alligator

Alligator mississippiensis American alligator

Alligator mefferdi

Alligator thomsoni

Related Research Articles

<i>Ceratosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Ceratosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian from latest Paleocene rocks of Colorado's Piceance Basin and earliest Eocene rocks of Wyoming's Bighorn Basin in North America, a slice of time known as the Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age. Like its modern relatives, Ceratosuchus was a swamp-dwelling predator. It is named for the pair of flattened, triangular bony plates that extend from the back of its head.

<i>Boverisuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Boverisuchus is an extinct genus of planocraniid crocodyliforms known from the middle Eocene of Germany and western North America. It was a relatively small crocodyliform with an estimated total length of approximately 2.2–3.6 metres (7.2–11.8 ft).

<i>Diplocynodon</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Diplocynodon is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian that lived during the Paleocene to Middle Miocene in Europe. Some species may have reached lengths of 3 metres (9.8 ft), while others probably did not exceed 1 metre (3.3 ft). They are almost exclusively found in freshwater environments. The various species are thought to have been opportunistic aquatic predators.

Wannaganosuchus is an extinct genus of small alligatorid crocodilian. It was found in Late Paleocene-age rocks of Billings County, North Dakota, United States.

<i>Leidyosuchus</i> Genus of reptiles

Leidyosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It was named in 1907 by Lawrence Lambe, and the type species is L. canadensis. It is known from a number of specimens from the middle Campanian age Dinosaur Park Formation. It was a medium-sized alligatorid, with a maximum skull length greater than 40 centimeters (16 in).

<i>Hassiacosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Hassiacosuchus is an extinct genus of small alligatorid from the early Eocene of Germany, found at the Messel pit. It was named in 1935 by K. Weitzel, and the type species is H. haupti. A second species, H. kayi, was named in 1941 by C.C. Mook for material from the Bridgerian of Wyoming, but was reassigned to Procaimanoidea in 1967 by Wassersug and Hecht. Hassiacosuchus may be the same as Allognathosuchus; Christopher Brochu has recommended continuing to use Hassiacosuchus.

Eoalligator is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian from Paleocene deposits in China.

<i>Allognathosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Allognathosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian with a complicated taxonomic history. It was named in 1921.

<i>Navajosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Navajosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian. Its fossils have been found in the Paleocene-age Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. It was named in 1942 by Charles C. Mook, and the original type species was N. novomexicanus. N. novomexicanus was based on AMNH 5186, a partial skull collected in 1913. Later research showed that Navajosuchus novomexicanus was the same as the earlier-named Allognathosuchus mooki. However, A. mooki does not belong to the genus Allognathosuchus, and so the name of the crocodilian becomes Navajosuchus mooki. Under whichever name is used, this animal would have been a generalized predator of the Nacimiento floodplains. It was the most common Nacimiento Formation crocodilian, found in both the Puercan and Torrejonian faunal assemblages.

Arambourgia is an extinct monotypic genus of alligatorine crocodylian from Europe. It was named in 1905 as Allognathosuchus gaudryi. It was made a separate genus Arambourgia in 1940. This was synonymized with Allognathosuchus haupti in 1990, but later reassigned as its own genus once again in 2004. Arambourgia was likely to have been part of an early dispersal event of alligatorines from North America to Europe during the Eocene epoch. Arambourgia had non-serrated teeth and a deep orienirostral snout, unlike the flatter snouts of most other alligatorids.

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.

<i>Brachychampsa</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Brachychampsa is an extinct genus of alligatoroid, possibly a basal caiman. Specimens have been reported from New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, New Jersey, and Saskatchewan, though only those from Montana, Utah, and New Mexico are based on material sufficient to justify the referral. One specimen has been reported from the Darbasa Formation of Kazakhstan, although the species status is indeterminate for the fossil. The genus first appeared during the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous. Brachychampsa is distinguished by an enlarged fifth maxillary tooth in the upper jaw.

<i>Planocrania</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Planocrania is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliforms from what is now China. Two species are currently known to belong to the genus.

<i>Stangerochampsa</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

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 20.0 centimetres (7.9 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globidonta</span> Clade of reptiles

Globidonta is a clade of alligatoroids that includes alligators, caimans, and closely related extinct forms. It is defined as a stem-based clade including Alligator mississippiensis and all forms more closely related to it than to Diplocynodon. The group's fossil range extends back into the Late Cretaceous with early alligatoroids such as Albertochampsa and Brachychampsa. Extinct globidontans were particularly common in North America and Eurasia, and their modern range also includes South America.

<i>"Crocodylus" affinis</i> Species of reptile (fossil)

"Crocodylus" affinis is an extinct species of crocodyloid from the Eocene of Wyoming. Fossils were first described from the Bridger Formation by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871. Marsh described the species, along with every other species of crocodyloid in the Bridger Formation, under the genus Crocodylus. The known specimen of "Crocodylus" affinis is a skull found at Grizzly Buttes, Wyoming, measuring 13 inches in length on the upper surface. Recent phylogenetic studies of crocodyloids show that "C." affinis is not a species of Crocodylus, but a genus has not yet been erected to include the species. Other Bridger species such as Crocodylus clavis and Brachyuranochampsa zangerli have been synonymized with "C." affinis.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planocraniidae</span> Extinct family of reptiles

Planocraniidae is an extinct family of eusuchian crocodyliforms known from the Paleogene of Asia, Europe and North America. The family was coined by Li in 1976, and contains three genera, Boverisuchus, Duerosuchus and Planocrania. Planocraniids were highly specialized crocodyliforms that were adapted to living on land. They had extensive body armor, long legs, and blunt claws resembling hooves, and are sometimes informally called "hoofed crocodiles".

<i>Protoalligator</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Protoalligator is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian found in the Anhui province of China and lived during the Paleocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orientalosuchina</span> Extinct clade of crocodilians

Orientalosuchina is an extinct clade of alligatoroid crocodylians from South and East Asia that lived during the Paleocene and Eocene.

References

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  2. 1 2 Gilmore, Charles W. "A new crocodilian from the Eocene of Utah". Journal of Paleontology. 20 (1): 62–67.
  3. Mook, C.C. (1941). "A new crocodilian, Hassiacosuchus kayi, from the Bridger Eocene beds of Wyoming". Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 28: 207–220. doi: 10.5962/p.330789 . S2CID   251510549.
  4. Wassersug, R.J.; Hecht, M.K. (1967). "The status of the crocodylid genera Procaimanoidea and Hassiacosuchus in the New World". Herpetologica. 23 (1): 30–34.
  5. 1 2 Paula Bona; Martín D. Ezcurra; Francisco Barrios; María V. Fernandez Blanco (2018). "A new Palaeocene crocodylian from southern Argentina sheds light on the early history of caimanines". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285 (1885): 20180843. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0843. PMC   6125902 . PMID   30135152.
  6. 1 2 Tobias Massonne; Davit Vasilyan; Márton Rabi; Madelaine Böhme (2019). "A new alligatoroid from the Eocene of Vietnam highlights an extinct Asian clade independent from extant Alligator sinensis". PeerJ. 7: e7562. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7562 . PMC   6839522 . PMID   31720094.
  7. 1 2 Adam P. Cossette; Christopher A. Brochu (2020). "A systematic review of the giant alligatoroid Deinosuchus from the Campanian of North America and its implications for the relationships at the root of Crocodylia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40: e1767638. Bibcode:2020JVPal..40E7638C. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1767638 .