Aldabrachampsus
''Aldabrachampsus'' is an extinct genus of small horned crocodile known from fragmentary remains. It lived during the Pleistocene on Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean. The name ''Aldabrachampsus dilophus'' means "Two-crested crocodile from Aldabra". It was a small animal, reaching a length of , comparable in size to the smallest extant crocodilians. Description ''Aldabrachampsus'' is only known from fragmentary cranial and mandibular remains including the premaxilla, frontal bone, parietal, dentaries and squamosals among others. Some postcranial bones are also known including several vertebrae and a femur. Like most other crocodilians ''Aldabrachampsus'' possessed five teeth situated in the premaxilla, however the second to fifth are all aligned in a straight line rather than following a convex path. Following the premaxillary teeth the rostrum of the crocodile constricted, creating a notch for one of the dentary teeth. There is a toothless region (diastema ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Voay
''Voay'' is an extinct genus of crocodile from Madagascar that lived during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene, containing only one species, ''V. robustus''. Numerous subfossils have been found, including complete skulls, noted for their distinctive pair of horns on the posterior, as well as vertebrae and osteoderms from such places as Ambolisatra and Antsirabe. The genus is thought to have become extinct relatively recently. It has been suggested to have disappeared in the extinction event that wiped out much of the endemic megafauna on Madagascar, such as the elephant bird and Malagasy hippo, following the arrival of humans to Madagascar around 2000 years ago. Its name comes from the Malagasy word for crocodile. Description One unusual feature of ''V. robustus'' that distinguishes it from other crocodilians is the presence of prominent "horns" extending from the posterior portion of the skull. They are actually the posterolaterally extended corners of the squamosal bone. Ot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aldabra
Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 km (700 mi) southwest of the capital, Victoria on Mahé Island. History The name Aldabra, originally Al-Hadra or Al-Khadra (with several variants), was given by Arab seafarers for "the atoll’s harsh, sun-baked environment"; this name was included in the Portuguese maps of the 16th century. The islands were already known to the Persians and Arabs, from whom they got their name. They had named the Indian Ocean as Bahr-el zanj. It was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. In the middle of the 18th century, the atoll became a dependency of the French colony of Réunion, from where expeditions were made for the capture of the Aldabra giant tortoises. As there are no surface freshwater sources on Aldabra, the interests of the explor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently defined as the time between c. 129,000 and c. 11,700 years ago. The Late Pleistocene equates to the proposed Tarantian Age of the geologic time scale, preceded by the officially ratified Chibanian (formerly known as Middle Pleistocene) and succeeded by the officially ratified Greenlandian. The estimated beginning of the Tarantian is the start of the Eemian interglacial period ( Marine Isotope Stage 5). It is held to end with the termination of the Younger Dryas, some 11,700 years ago when the Holocene Epoch began. The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a provisional or "quasi-formal" designation by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). Although the three olde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Osteolaeminae
Osteolaeminae is a subfamily (biology), subfamily of true crocodiles within the family (biology), family Crocodylidae containing the Osteolaemus, dwarf crocodiles and Mecistops, slender-snouted crocodiles, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae. Taxonomy Osteolaeminae was named by Christopher Brochu in 2003 as a subfamily of Crocodylidae separate from Crocodylinae, and is cladistics, cladistically defined as ''Osteolaemus tetraspis'' (the Dwarf crocodile) and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (the Nile crocodile). This is a stem-based taxon, stem-based definition, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae. Osteolaeminae contains the two extant taxon, extant genus, genera ''Osteolaemus'' and ''Mecistops'', along with several extinct genera, although the number of extant species within Osteolaeminae is currently in question. Phylogeny The cladogram below is based on two studies that combined morphology (biology), morphological, molecular (D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crocodylus
''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct species. There are additional extinct species attributed to the genus ''Crocodylus'' that studies have shown no longer belong, although they have not yet been reassigned to new genera. Extant species The 13–14 living species are: Fossils ''Crocodylus'' also includes five extinct species: * † '' Crocodylus anthropophagus'' is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Tanzania. * † '' Crocodylus checchiai'' is an extinct crocodile from Late Miocene of Kenya. * † '' Crocodylus falconensis'' is an extinct crocodile from Early Pliocene of Venezuela. * † '' Crocodylus palaeindicus'' is an extinct crocodile the Miocene to the Pleistocene of southern Asia. * † '' Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni'' is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct taxa. Although they appear similar, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to separate biological families. The gharial, with its narrow snout, is easier to distinguish, while morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is that the upper and lower jaws of the crocodiles are the same width, and the teeth in the l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nile Crocodile
The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, and southern regions of the continent, and lives in different types of aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and marshlands. In West Africa, it occurs along with two other crocodilians. Although capable of living in saline environments, this species is rarely found in saltwater, but occasionally inhabits deltas and brackish lakes. The range of this species once stretched northward throughout the Nile, as far north as the Nile Delta. On average, the adult male Nile crocodile is between in length and weighs including stomach stones. However, specimens exceeding in length and weighing up to have been recorded. It is the largest freshwater predator in Africa, and may be considered the second-largest extant reptile in the w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mekosuchus
''Mekosuchus'' is a genus of extinct Australasian crocodiles within the subfamily Mekosuchinae. They are believed to have been made extinct by the arrival of humans on the South Pacific islands where they lived. The species of this genus were small in size, 2 m in maximum length, and terrestrial, making them the last surviving group of fully terrestrial crocodilians, leaving only semi-terrestrial species such as the Cuban crocodile and the dwarves '' Osteolaemus'' and '' Paleosuchus''. Fossils of related mekosuchines, such as ''Trilophosuchus'', have been found from Miocene Australia (the earliest known mekosuchine is the Eocene genus '' Kambara''), while ''Quinkana'' survived until the arrival of humans.Roberts, R.G., Flannery, T.F., Ayliffe, L.K., Yoshida, H., Olley J.M., Prideaux, G.J., Laslett, G.M., Baynes, A., Smith, M.A., Jones, R., Smith, B.L. (2001). New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago. ''Science'' 292 (5523): 18 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Volia
''Volia'' is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylians from Fiji named in 2002.; ; 2002: An extinct Pleistocene endemic mekosuchine crocodylian from Fiji. ''Journal of vertebrate paleontology'', 22: 612–628. It was around long. Notwithstanding its comparatively small size, it was probably the apex predator of the Pleistocene ecosystems of Fiji. Fossils of ''Volia athollandersoni'', the type and currently only known species, have been found in the Voli-Voli and Wainibuku Caves of Viti Levu Island. The holotype is housed in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. ''V. athollandersoni'' and the other large reptiles of Fiji may have been exterminated by human hunting soon after Fiji was colonized by ancient Polynesians. Etyomology ''V. athollandersoni'' is named after the New Zealand archaeologist Atholl Anderson. Phylogeny A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular ( DNA sequencing), and strati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Osteolaemus
''Osteolaemus'' is a genus of crocodiles. They are small, secretive crocodiles that occur in wetlands of West and Middle Africa. They are commonly known as the African dwarf crocodiles. Unlike other crocodiles, ''Osteolaemus'' are strictly nocturnal. Species The following species are recognized as being valid. :''Nota bene'': A binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ... in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Osteolaemus''. Molecular data suggest that ''Osteolaemus tetraspis'' consists of two lineages that would warrant recognition as distinct species. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q2233478 Crocodylidae Reptile genera Crocodilians of Africa Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paleosuchus
''Paleosuchus'' is a South American genus of reptiles in the subfamily Caimaninae of the family Alligatoridae. They are the smallest members of the order Crocodilia in the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th .... The genus contains two extant species and a yet unnamed fossil species. References External links Alligatoridae Reptile genera Taxa named by John Edward Gray Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Archosaur-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cuban Crocodiles
The Cuban crocodile (''Crocodylus rhombifer'') is a small-medium species of crocodile endemic to Cuba. Typical length is and typical weight . Large males can reach as much as in length and weigh more than . Despite its smaller size, it is a highly aggressive animal, and potentially dangerous to humans. The Cuban crocodile is of interest to biologists, for its unique physical and behavioral traits. Long- and strong-legged, it is the most terrestrial of extant crocodiles. Its preferred habitat comprises freshwater environments such as marshes and rivers. There, the adults feed on fish, turtles and small mammals, while the young eat invertebrates and smaller fish. Mating occurs between May and July. Captive animals have displayed cooperative hunting behavior, and can be taught tricks, suggesting intelligence. The Cuban crocodile is listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Once spread across the Caribbean, its range has dwindled to in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |