| Sebecids | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Skull of Sebecus icaeorhinus | |
| | |
| Skeleton of Ogresuchus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Clade: | † Notosuchia |
| Clade: | † Sebecosuchia |
| Clade: | † Sebecia |
| Family: | † Sebecidae Simpson, 1937 |
| Subgroups | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Sebecidae is an extinct family of prehistoric terrestrial sebecosuchian crocodylomorphs, known from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Europe and South America. They were the latest surviving group of non-crocodilian crocodylomorphs.
The oldest known member of the group is Ogresuchus furatus known from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tremp Formation (Spain). [2] Other records of the group are known from the Eocene of Europe. [3] Sebecids were diverse, abundant and broadly distributed in South America (mostly in Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia) during the Cenozoic, from the Paleocene until the Middle Miocene. [4] The youngest known sebecids identified as cf. Sebecus sp. are reported from the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene strata of the Dominican Republic. [5]
This group included many medium- and large-sized genera, from Sebecus to the giant 6-metre-long (20 ft) Barinasuchus from the Miocene. [6] They are thought to have served as apex terrestrial predators of their ecosystems. [7]
Juan Leardi and colleagues in 2024 defined Sebecidae in PhyloCode as "the least inclusive clade containing Sebecus icaeorhinus , Bretesuchus bonapartei , Barinasuchus arveloi , and Sahitisuchus fluminensis ". [8] The following cladogram simplified after Diego Pol and Jaime E. Powell (2011). [4]