''Eoalligator'' 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 alligatoroid

crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

from Paleocene deposits in China.

Systematics

''Eoalligator'' was originally classified as an extinct relative of alligators. The holotype of ''E. chunyii'', IVPP V2716, is a partial skeleton. A second nominal species, ''E. huiningensis'', was described in 1982 from Anhui.Young CC. 1982. A Cenozoic crocodile from Huaining, Anhui. Selected Works of Yang Zhongjian. China: Academia Sinica. 47-48. A 2016 study of Chinese alligators by Wang ''et al.'' found ''Eoalligator chunyii'' to be a junior

synonym 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 ...

of ''

Asiatosuchus nanlingensis ''Asiatosuchus'' is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilians that lived in Eurasia during the Paleogene. Many Paleogene crocodilians from Europe and Asia have been attributed to ''Asiatosuchus'' since the genus was named in 1940. These specie ...

'' and a

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

member of

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 ...

. However, a subsequent study by Wu ''et al.'' disagreed with the synonymy of ''"Asiatosuchus" nanlingensis'' and ''Eoalligator chunyii'', finding them to be distinct based on first-hand studies of the holotypes and cladistic analysis, although they agreed in classifying ''E. chunyii'' as a crocodyloid. In 2016, Wang ''et al.'' also found ''Eoalligator huiningensis'' to be an alligatoroid distinct from ''E. chunyii'', and thus moved ''Eoalligator huiningensis'' to the new genus ''

Protoalligator ''Protoalligator'' is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian found in the Anhui province of China and lived during the Paleocene. Taxonomy ''P. huiningensis'', was originally named ''Eoalligator huiningensis'', which therefore remains the ...

''. A 2019 study by Massonne ''et al.'' included additional taxa from Southeast Asia and found ''Eoalligator'' and ''

'' to be related and as basal members of Alligatoroidea, as shown in the cladogram below:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5381579 Crocodilians Paleocene crocodylomorphs Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Paleocene reptiles of Asia Paleogene China Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 1964