Crocodylus falconensis
| Crocodylus falconensis | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | Archosauriformes |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Family: | Crocodylidae |
| Genus: | Crocodylus |
| Species: | C. falconensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Crocodylus falconensis | |
Crocodylus falconensis is an
of the lower part of the Vergel Member of theDescription
C. falconensis was a medium-sized species of crocodile with a robust, generalist skull shape. The orbits and the
Evolution
Initial phylogenetic analysis by Scheyer and colleagues recovered C. falconensis as the basal-most of New World Crocodylus species and sister taxa to all subsequent species of the Americas. This has been interpreted to mean that C. falconensis was one of, if not the first member of the genus to cross the
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In 2021, Hekkala et al. were able to use paleogenomics, extracting DNA from the extinct Voay, to better establish the relationships within Crocodylidae, including the subfamilies Crocodylinae and Osteolaeminae. Their results too recover a close connection between the Miocene C. checchiai of Africa and the Pliocene C. falconensis, placing them as sister taxa. However, these results render the origin of neotropic Crocodylus relatively obscure, as the two species group together at the base of the African-American clade, less derived than either of the two extant African species. Following these results rather than those of Scheyer or Delfino would imply two distinct dispersal events into the Americas.[3]
| Crocodylus |
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Paleoenvironment
C. falconensis was found in the Vergel Member of the
