''Charactosuchus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of crocodilian. It was assigned to the family

Crocodylidae Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant mem ...

in 1988. Specimens have been found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Brazil, Jamaica, and possibly Florida and South Carolina. It was

gharial 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 b ...

-like in appearance with its long narrow snout but bore no relation to them, being more closely related to modern

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

s than to gharials.

Species

South America

The type species, ''C. fieldsi'', has been found from the Villavieja Formation at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte La Venta in Colombia and dates back to the

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 y ...

( Laventan). It has also been found in the Mayoan to Montehermosan Urumaco Formation at Urumaco in Venezuela,''Charactosuchus''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org and in the Solimões Formation in Acre State, Brazil, along with ''C. sansoai'', and the possible species ''C. mendesi'' (sometimes assigned to ''Brasilosuchus'').

Caribbean

In 1969, a lower jaw of a crocodilian that dated back to the Lutetian stage of the Eocene was found in the Chapelton Formation of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, and was described as belonging to a new species of ''Charactosuchus'' named ''C. kugleri''. However, this species may be considered

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with ''

Dollosuchus ''Dollosuchus'' (meaning "Louis Dollo's crocodile") is an extinct monospecific genus of tomistomine crocodilian originally named as a species of ''Gavialis''. It is a basal form possibly related to ''Kentisuchus'', according to several phylogene ...

'', according to later papers.

North America

Isolated teeth thought to be from the genus have been found from Florida and South Carolina and are of early Pliocene age. This was thought to be evidence of the interchange between North and South American faunas, with the genus first appearing in North America and then migrating down into Colombia and Brazil. This theory is no longer accepted, although the presence of '' Charactosuchus'' from Jamaica may suggest a European origin, with the genus migrating across either the

De Geer The De Geer family (also: De Geer van Jutphaas and De Geer van Oudegein) is a prominent industrial family of Walloon origin that belongs to the Swedish and Dutch nobility. History The name derives from the town of Geer near Liège (in present ...

or Thule land bridges.Agustí, J. and Antón, B. 2002. ''Mammoths, Sabretooths and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe''. 313 pp. Columbia Univ. Press, New York

References

External links

''Charactosuchus''
in the Paleobiology Database {{Taxonbar, from=Q5073846, from2=Q20717539 Crocodilians Paleogene crocodylomorphs Miocene crocodylomorphs Pliocene crocodylomorphs Eocene reptiles of North America Paleogene Jamaica Fossils of Jamaica Miocene reptiles of South America Montehermosan Huayquerian Chasicoan Mayoan Laventan Neogene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Neogene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Honda Group, Colombia Neogene Venezuela Fossils of Venezuela Fossil taxa described in 1965 Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera