Cranial Polymorphism and Systematics of Miocene and Living Alligator in North America
@inproceedings{Whiting2016CranialPA, title={Cranial Polymorphism and Systematics of Miocene and Living Alligator in North America}, author={Evan T. Whiting and David W Steadman and Kent A Vliet}, year={2016} }
Abstract We examined the osteology of Neogene Alligator, with a focus on fossils from the late Miocene (~8–7 million years ago [Ma]) Moss Acres Racetrack locality in Marion County, Florida, USA. These fossils have been referred previously to Alligator cf. A. mefferdi (early late Miocene, ~12–10 Ma, Nebraska), an extinct species that we and others have found to be lacking autapomorphic characters. Furthermore, numerous cranial polymorphisms, previously regarded as diagnostic autapomorphies or…
12 Citations
Redescription and phylogenetic affinities of the caimanine Eocaiman cavernensis (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) from the Eocene of Argentina
- BiologyPapers in Palaeontology
- 2020
A reassessment of E. cavernensis is presented, based on first‐hand examination and micro‐computed tomography of the holotype, and some aspects of its morphology are reinterpreted, providing evidence for a monophyletic Eocaiman genus within Caimaninae, even though some highly incomplete taxa represent significant sources of phylogenetic instability.
A new caimanine (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) species from the Solimões Formation of Brazil and the phylogeny of Caimaninae
- BiologyJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology
- 2018
A phylogenetic analysis of Eusuchia showed the new Caimanine pachytemporalis as sister to Purussaurus, which allows discussion about the evolution of gigantism in the Acresuchus-Purussaurus clade, which reveals several characters that may be related to giganism.
Neogene Crocodylians from the Central Great Plains: Spatiotemporal Histories and Relationships with Regional Climatic and Environmental Changes
- Geography, Environmental ScienceJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology
- 2020
ABSTRACT Crocodylian fossils are well documented from Upper Cretaceous and lower to middle Paleogene deposits in the mid-high latitudes of the Western Interior, whereas the only extant North American…
Crocodylian assemblage from the middle Eocene Ikovo locality (Lugansk Province, Ukraine), with a discussion of the fossil record and geographic origins of crocodyliform fauna in the Paleogene of Europe
- Geography, Environmental Science
- 2021
Paleoecology of Miocene crocodylians in Florida: Insights from stable isotope analysis
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2016
Modern cryptic species and crocodylian diversity in the fossil record
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2020
Ranges of variation in modern species require a thorough re-evaluation, and the authors may have to revisit previous perceptions of past crocodyliform diversity, rates of evolution or anagenetic lineages in stratigraphic succession.
The Lapara Creek Fauna: Early Clarendonian of south Texas, USA
- Environmental Science, GeologyPalaeontologia Electronica
- 2019
The Lapara Creek Fauna includes a large collection of fossil vertebrates obtained by the State-Wide Paleontologic-Mineralogic Survey in Texas (1939–1941) under the direction of the Bureau of Economic…
Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem
- Biology, Environmental SciencePeerJ
- 2021
A new morphological dataset for Crocodylia is presented based on a critical reappraisal of published crocodylian character data matrices and extensive firsthand observations of a global sample of croc Codylians, which robustly recover Gavialis as more closely related to Tomistoma than to other extant cro codylians for the first time based on morphology alone.
SOME THOUGHTS ON INTERSPECIFIC MANDIBULAR MORPHOLOGY IN FOSSIL AND MODERN ALLIGATOR
- Geology
- 2021
The genus Alligator has historically been used for nearly any blunt-snouted (brevirostrine) crocodylomorph and has been greatly constrained in its modern application via Brochu, 1999 and 2004, such that species within the genus possess the following shared osteological traits.
Spatiotemporal palaeodiversity patterns of modern crocodiles (Crocodyliformes: Eusuchia)
- Environmental Science, GeographyZoological Journal of the Linnean Society
- 2019
These estimates reveal complex spatiotemporal palaeodiversity patterns, in which two maxima can be detected: the first during the Palaeocene and the second, which is also the biggest, in the middle-late Miocene.
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