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Planocraniidae
Planocraniidae is an extinct family (biology), 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". Classification Prior to 2013, the term Pristichampsidae/Pristichampsinae was used for this group. However, the type specimen of ''Pristichampsus'' was found to be undiagnostic, and considered to be a ''nomen dubium''. As such, Brochu (2013) transferred the other species placed in ''Pristichampsus'' to ''Boverisuchus'', and resurrected Planocraniidae to replace Pristichampsidae/Pristichampsinae as the name for the clade. Brochu cladistically defined Planocraniidae as ''Planocrania hengdongensis'' and croco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boverisuchus Magnifrons
''Boverisuchus'' is an extinct genus of planocraniid crocodyliforms known from the middle Eocene (Lutetian stage) of Germany and western North America. It grew to approximately in length. History The type species ''Boverisuchus magnifrons'' was first named by paleontologist Oskar Kuhn in 1938 in paleontology, 1938, from the Lutetian of Germany alongside ''Weigeltisuchus geiseltalensis''. Most paleontologists have considered both species to represent junior synonyms of the type species of ''Pristichampsus'', ''P. rollinatii''. Following a revision of the genus ''Pristichampsus'' by Brochu (2013), ''P. rollinati'' was found to be based on insufficiently diagnostic material and therefore is a ''nomen dubium'' while ''Boverisuchus'' was reinstated as a valid genus. Brochu (2013) also assigned ''Crocodylus vorax'', which has been referred to as ''Pristichampsus vorax'' since Langston (1975), as the second species of ''Boverisuchus''. According to Brochu (2013), material from the midd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planocrania Hengdongensis
''Planocrania'' is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliforms from what is now China. Two species are currently known to belong to the genus. History The type species, ''Planocrania datangensis'', was named in 1976 from material found from Nanxiong in Guangdong Province, China, and the new genus ''Planocrania'' was placed in a newly erected family Planocraniidae. A second species, ''Planocrania hengdongensis'', is known from Hengdong County in Hunan Province and was described in 1984. ''Planocrania'' was subsequently included in the family Pristichampsidae along with the genus ''Pristichampsus''. Both genera were previously assigned to the subfamily Pristichampsinae within the family Crocodylidae before they were placed in their own family, the Pristichampsidae. However, in a 2013 phylogenetic analysis, the two Asian species of ''Planocrania'' were found to be most closely related to the North American and European ''Boverisuchus'', and the family Planocraniidae was reinstat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planocrania
''Planocrania'' is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodyliforms from what is now China. Two species are currently known to belong to the genus. History The type species, ''Planocrania datangensis'', was named in 1976 from material found from Nanxiong in Guangdong Province, China, and the new genus ''Planocrania'' was placed in a newly erected family Planocraniidae. A second species, ''Planocrania hengdongensis'', is known from Hengdong County in Hunan Province and was described in 1984. ''Planocrania'' was subsequently included in the family Pristichampsidae along with the genus ''Pristichampsus''. Both genera were previously assigned to the subfamily Pristichampsinae within the family Crocodylidae before they were placed in their own family, the Pristichampsidae. However, in a 2013 phylogenetic analysis, the two Asian species of ''Planocrania'' were found to be most closely related to the North American and European ''Boverisuchus'', and the family Planocraniidae was reinstat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boverisuchus
''Boverisuchus'' is an extinct genus of planocraniid crocodyliforms known from the middle Eocene (Lutetian stage) of Germany and western North America. It grew to approximately in length. History The type species ''Boverisuchus magnifrons'' was first named by paleontologist Oskar Kuhn in 1938, from the Lutetian of Germany alongside ''Weigeltisuchus geiseltalensis''. Most paleontologists have considered both species to represent junior synonyms of the type species of ''Pristichampsus'', ''P. rollinatii''. Following a revision of the genus ''Pristichampsus'' by Brochu (2013), ''P. rollinati'' was found to be based on insufficiently diagnostic material and therefore is a ''nomen dubium'' while ''Boverisuchus'' was reinstated as a valid genus. Brochu (2013) also assigned ''Crocodylus vorax'', which has been referred to as ''Pristichampsus vorax'' since Langston (1975), as the second species of ''Boverisuchus''. According to Brochu (2013), material from the middle Eocene of Italy and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duerosuchus
''Duerosuchus'' is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Remains have been found from Corrales del Vino in Zamora, Spain, and are middle Eocene in age (about 40 million years old). ''Duerosuchus'' is known from a single skull that is incomplete but otherwise well preserved, as well as a lower jaw, some osteoderms, and possibly some vertebrae. ''Duerosuchus'' is a basal crocodilian thought to be closely related to brevirostrine, or short snouted crocodilians, such as alligatoroids. However, the genus was not initially included in a phylogenetic study and its position within Crocodilia was uncertain, until a 2021 study recovered ''Duerosuchus'' within the family Planocraniidae. Discovery Remains of ''Duerosuchus'' were unearthed by an excavation team from the University of Salamanca. The remains were discovered by Luis Alonso Andrés and his son Luis Alonso Santiago, two amateur paleontologists. The genus was first described by Andrés and Santiago in 2009 and was named after the Due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eusuchia
Eusuchia is a clade of crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Early Cretaceous with ''Hylaeochampsa''. Along with Dyrosauridae and Sebecosuchia, they were the only crocodyliformes who survived the K-T extinction. Since the other two clades died out 47 and 11 million years ago respectively, all living crocodilian species are eusuchians, as are many extinct forms. Definition Eusuchia was originally defined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1875 as an apomorphy-based group, meaning that it was defined by shared characteristics rather than relations. These characteristics include pterygoid-bounded choanae and vertebrae which are procoelous (concave from the front and convex from the back). The possibility that these traits may have been convergently evolved in different groups of neosuchians rather than one lineage spurred some modern paleontologists to revise the group's definition to make it defined solely by relations. In 1999, Christopher Brochu redefined Eusuchia as "the last common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by Chicxulub impact, an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavialis Gangeticus
The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known as a ''ghara'', hence the name "gharial". The gharial is well adapted to catching fish because of its long, narrow snout and 110 sharp, interlocking teeth. The gharial probably evolved in the northern Indian subcontinent. Fossil gharial remains were excavated in Pliocene deposits in the Sivalik Hills and the Narmada River valley. It currently inhabits rivers in the plains of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It is the most thoroughly aquatic crocodilian, and leaves the water only for basking and building nests on moist sandbanks. Adults mate at the end of the cold season. Females congregate in spring to dig nests, in which they lay 20–95 eggs. They guard t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladistically
Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies'')'' that are not present in more distant groups and ancestors. However, from an empirical perspective, common ancestors are inferences based on a cladistic hypothesis of relationships of taxa whose character states can be observed. Theoretically, a last common ancestor and all its descendants constitute a (minimal) clade. Importantly, all descendants stay in their overarching ancestral clade. For example, if the terms ''worms'' or ''fishes'' were used within a ''strict'' cladistic framework, these terms would include humans. Many of these terms are normally used paraphyletically, outside of cladistics, e.g. as a 'grade', which are fruitless to precisely delineate, especially when including extinct species. Radi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alligator Mississippiensis
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the genus ''Alligator'', and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Adult male American alligators measure in length, and can weigh up to , with unverified sizes of up to and weights of making it one of the largest members of the family Alligatoridae, alongside the black caiman. Females are smaller, measuring in length. The American alligator inhabits subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps, from southern Texas to North Carolina. It is distinguished from the sympatric American crocodile by its broader snout, with overlapping jaws and darker coloration, and is less tolerant of saltwater but more tolerant of cooler climates than the American crocodile, which is fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
