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Kuttanacaiman Size
''Kuttanacaiman'' is a monotypic genus of extinct caiman represented by the type species ''Kuttanacaiman iquitosensis''. ''Kuttanacaiman'' lived in what is now the Amazon basin during the Middle Miocene, approximately 13 million years ago (Ma). The species was named in 2015 on the basis of one nearly complete skull and a second partial skull from the Pebas Formation near Iquitos, Peru. ''K. iquitosensis'' is characterized by a short, rounded snout and blunt teeth at the back of its jaws that were likely adapted to crushing freshwater bivalves. Its estimated total body length is . Etymology The genus name comes from the Quechua word ''kuttana'', meaning "grinding or crushing machine", and its species name honors the Iquitos native peoples. Habitat ''Kuttanacaiman'' lived in Amazonia at a time before the Amazon River Basin was established; in its place was a massive wetland, called the Pebas Mega-Wetland System, that covered an approximate area of over in a drainage basin eas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). During this period, a sharp drop in global temperatures took place. This event is known as the Middle Miocene Climate Transition. For the purpose of establishing European Land Mammal Ages The European Land Mammal Mega Zones (abbreviation: ELMMZ, more commonly known as European land mammal ages or ELMA) are zones in rock layers that have a specific assemblage of fossils (biozones) based on occurrences of fossil assemblages of Europe ... this sub-epoch is equivalent to the Astaracian age. External links GeoWhen Database - Middle Miocene .02 02 * * {{geochronology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S latitude), and has an average height of about . The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, separated by intermediate depressions. The Andes are the location of several high plateaus—some of which host major cities such as Quito, Bogotá, Cali, Arequipa, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Sucre, Mérida, El Alto and La Paz. The Altiplano plateau is the world's second-highest after the Tibetan plateau. These ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate: the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. The Andes Mountains are the highest m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other evolutionary narratives about ance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-snouted Caiman
The broad-snouted caiman (''Caiman latirostris'') is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae found in eastern and central South America, including southeastern Brazil, northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It is found mostly in freshwater marshes, swamps, and mangroves, usually in still or very slow-moving waters. It will often use man-made cow ponds.Britton, A. ''Caiman latirostris'' (Daudin, 1801). ''Crocodilian Species List''.http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/csp_clat.htm. 2009. Characteristics In the wild, adults normally grow to in length, but a few old males have been recorded to reach up to . Captive adults were found to have weighed . Most tend to be of a light olive-green color. A few individuals have spots on their faces. The most notable physical characteristic is the broad snout from which its name is derived. Borteiro et al 2009 studied the food habits of ''C. latirostris''. The snout is well adapted to rip through the dense vegetation of the marshes. Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caiman
A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America from marshes and swamps to mangrove rivers and lakes. They have scaly skin and live a fairly nocturnal existence. They are relatively small-sized crocodilians with an average maximum weight of depending on species, with the exception of the black caiman (''Melanosuchus niger''), which can grow more than in length and weigh in excess of 1,000 kg (2,200 Ib). The black caiman is the largest caiman species in the world and is found in the slow-moving rivers and lakes that surround the Amazon basin. The smallest species is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (''Paleosuchus palpebrosus''), which grows to long. There are six different species of caiman found throughout the watery jungle habitats of Central and Southern America. The average length for most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Globidentosuchus
''Globidentosuchus'' is an extinct genus of basal caimanine crocodylian known from the late Middle to Late Miocene of the Middle and the Upper Members of the Urumaco Formation at Urumaco, Venezuela. Its skull was very short and robust, with large units of spherical teeth used to break the shells of molluscs as part of its durophagus diet. It is thought to be one of the most basal Caimanines, even sharing some traits with alligatorids. Etymology The generic name ''Globidentosuchus'' is derived from the Latin roots ''globus'' meaning "sphere" and ''dens'' meaning "tooth", referring to the spherical teeth in the posterior skull, and Greek ''souchos'' meaning "crocodile" after its classification. The species name ''brachyrostris'' is derived from the Greek ''brachys'' meaning "short" and Latin ''rostrum'' meaning "snout" after the truncated and robust rostrum of the species. History and taxonomy ''Globidentosuchus'' was described in 2013 by T. M. Scheyer and colleagues, the ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caimaninae
A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America from marshes and swamps to mangrove rivers and lakes. They have scaly skin and live a fairly nocturnal existence. They are relatively small-sized crocodilians with an average maximum weight of depending on species, with the exception of the black caiman (''Melanosuchus niger''), which can grow more than in length and weigh in excess of 1,000 kg (2,200 Ib). The black caiman is the largest caiman species in the world and is found in the slow-moving rivers and lakes that surround the Amazon basin. The smallest species is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (''Paleosuchus palpebrosus''), which grows to long. There are six different species of caiman found throughout the watery jungle habitats of Central and Southern America. The average length for most o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basal (phylogenetics)
In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the ''base'' (or root) of a phylogenetic tree#Rooted tree, rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to nodes regarded as being close to the root. Note that extant taxa that lie on branches connecting directly to the root are not more closely related to the root than any other extant taxa. While there must always be two or more equally "basal" clades sprouting from the root of every cladogram, those clades may differ widely in taxonomic rank, Phylogenetic diversity, species diversity, or both. If ''C'' is a basal clade within ''D'' that has the lowest rank of all basal clades within ''D'', ''C'' may be described as ''the'' basal taxon of that rank within ''D''. The concept of a 'key innovation' implies some degree of correlation between evolutionary innovation and cladogenesis, diversification. However, such a correlation does not make a given ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Analysis
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups of organisms. These relationships are determined by Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference methods that focus on observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, or morphology. The result of such an analysis is a phylogenetic tree—a diagram containing a hypothesis of relationships that reflects the evolutionary history of a group of organisms. The tips of a phylogenetic tree can be living taxa or fossils, and represent the "end" or the present time in an evolutionary lineage. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about the ancestral line, and does n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caiman Wannlangstoni
''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.1 million square kilometers) drainage basin that extended from the Andes to the Caribbean Sea. During this time ''C. wannlangstoni'' would have inhabited oxygen-poor marshes and swamps, feeding on thick-shelled molluscs alongside other caiman species with crushing dentitions like ''Gnatusuchus pebasensis'' and ''Kuttanacaiman iquitosensis''. Beginning around 10.5 Ma, continued uplift of the Andes separated the Pebas region into three smaller basins: the Magdalena, Orinoco and Amazon basins. The youngest remains of ''C. wannlangstoni'' come from the Urumaco Formation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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